^    ;..,...;  .;■■;  I'll  -1  ■  ■:  = 


Principles  and  Ideals 
for  the  Sunday  Seliool 


BURTON  AND  MATHEWS 


BV  1520  .B78  1907 

Burton,  Ernest  De  Witt,  1856 

-1925.  I 

Principles  and  ideals  for 

the  SundaY,  school 


[W  / 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 
FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 


v 


t.. 


Principles  and  Ideals 
for  the  Sunday  School 

An  Essay  in  Religious  Pedagogy 


ERNEST  DE  WITT  BURTON 

SHAiLER  Mathews 

PROFESSORS    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF   CHICAGO 


* 


■C.^f.  'i0 


Chicago:  The  University  ot  Chicago  Press 

MDCCCCVII 


Copyright  1903  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


Published  June  1903 

Second  Impression  August  1903 

Third  Impression  July  1907 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE. 

The  authors  of  this  little  book  have  been  for 
years  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  Sunday  school 
as  teachers  and  officers,  and  for  almost  as  long 
time  have  been  occupied  as  biblical  instructors, 
training  young  men  for  the  Christian  ministry. 
For  a  number  of  years  we  have  also  had  a  share 
in  the  editorial  conduct  of  the  Biblical  World,  a 
journal  devoted  to  the  promotion  and  improve- 
ment of  biblical  study,  both  private  and  in  schools 
of  various  kinds. 

Portions  of  the  following  chapters  appeared 
in  their  original  form  as  editorials  in  the  Biblical 
World,  They  are  republished  here  in  revised 
form,  with  the  addition  of  several  chapters  not 
previously  printed,  in  the  hope  that  they  may 
contribute  somewhat  to  that  further  development 
and  improvement  of  the  Sunday  school  so  impera- 
tively demanded  by  its  own  splendid  past  and  the 
widening  horizon  and  better  methods  of  biblical 
study.  In  particular  it  is  hoped  that  they  will 
be  of  service  to  the  students  for  the  ministry  with 
whom  we  are  associated  in  the  Divinity  School 
of  the  University  of  Chicago. 

We  are  well  aware  that  we  have  touched  very 


VI  PREFACE 

lightly  or  passed  by  altogether  some  topics  as 
germane  to  our  subject  as  some  of  those  which 
we  have  discussed  at  length.  The  reason  of  this 
is  that  we  have  written  out  of  our  own  experience. 
It  is  for  this  reason  in  particular  that  we  have 
said  so  little  about  the  elementary  division  of 
the  school  and  practically  nothing  concerning  the 
kindergarten.  We  fully  recognize  the  profound 
importance  of  the  work  in  these  departments  of 
the  Sunday  school,  but,  having  had  too  little  ex- 
perience to  give  us  even  a  conceit  of  wisdom 
concerning  this  work,  we  must  refer  our  readers 
to  the  writings  of  those  who  have  dealt  specially 
with  this  phase  of  the  subject. 

We  venture  to  hope,  however,  that  what  we 
have  written  will  be  of  value  for  teachers  of  those 
classes  whose  pupils  constitute  what  is  perhaps 
the  greatest  problem  of  the  Sunday  school,  the 
boys  and  girls  of  grammar-school  and  high- 
school  age. 

We  wish  to  express  to  President  W.  R.  Harper 
our  sense  of  indebtedness,  especially  in  refer- 
ence to  the  chapter  upon  the  "Organization  of 
the  Graded  School."  What  we  have  there  written 
has  been  in  no  small  measure  learned  through  our 
experience  in  the  Hyde  Park  Baptist  Sunday 
School,  of  which  he  has  been  for  a  number  of 
years  superintendent  and  we  directors  or  teachers. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Chapter 

I. 

Chapter 

II. 

Chapter 

III. 

Chapter 

IV. 

Chapter 

V. 

Chapter 

VI. 

Chapter 

VII. 

Chapter  VIII. 

Chapter     IX. 


PART  I.     THE  TEACHER. 

The  Purpose  of  the  Sunday  School 

The  Teacher  as  a  Student 

The     Influence    of    the    Teacher's 

Study  upon  Himself 
The  Basis  of  Authority  in  Teaching 
Methods  of  Conducting  a  Class 
Method  as  Determined  by  the  Sub- 
ject of  Study       -         .         -         - 
How  to  Induce  a  Pupil  to  Study 
The  Teacher  and  the  Religious  Life 
of  the  Pupil         -         -         .         - 
The  Pastor  as  a  Teacher  of  Teach- 
ers       


Chapter 


PART  II.     THE  SCHOOL. 

I.     The    Requirements    of    a    Graded 


Chapter       II. 


Chapter 
Chapter 

Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 


III. 
IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 


3 

10 

22 
29 

45 

6o 
86 

98 

no 


123 


Chapter  VIII. 
Appendix 


School        .        .        -        - 
The  Construction  of  a  Graded  Cur- 
riculum      -         -         -         -         -  141 
Examinations  in  the  Sunday  School  157 
The   Organization    of    the    Graded 

School 162 

The  Sunday-School  Library  -  -  172 
Sunday-School  Benevolence  -  -  176 
The  Function  of  a   Sunday-School 

Ritual 184 

The  Teaching  Ministry  -         -         -  193 
203 


vu 


PART  I 
THE  TEACHER 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL. 

What   is   the  purpose   of  the   Sunday   school  ?  The  purpose 
Aim  clearly  recognized  determines  means,  meth-  Sunday 
od,  and  spirit.     No  more  fundamental  question,  ^'^^^^^ 
therefore,  can  be  asked  respecting  the  work  of 
the  Sunday  school  than  this.     The  answer  must 
be   based,   not   on   mere   names,   for  institutions 
often  grow  beyond  their  names;  nor  merely  on 
past  history,  for  the  past  is  not  necessarily  the 
measure  of  the  present.     Appeal  must  rather  be 
made  to  the  place  which  the  Sunday  school  is 
actually  filling  or  attempting  to  fill  in  the  complex 
work  of  the  church. 

The  Sunday  school  is  somewhat  more  than  a  The  Sunday 

1         1     •  r  1  11*  -1  r  school  an 

school,  if  by  a  school  is  meant  simply  a  place  for  educational 
learning  and  reciting  lessons.  Some  of  its  exer- 
cises belong  rather  to  worship  than  to  instruction. 
Its  characterization  as  the  children's  church, 
most  unfortunate  in  some  respects,  is  not  wholly 
wrong.  But  instruction  holds,  or  certainly  ought 
to  hold,  the  central  place.  The  Sunday  school 
is  essentially  a  school,  an  educational  institution, 
and  its  central  task  is  the  study  and  teaching*  of 
the   Bible.     Even   those  who   dislike   the   name 


institution 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  Sunday 
school  a 
religious 
institution 


"Bible  school"  will  admit  that,  whatever  the  pur- 
pose of  the  school  founded  by  Robert  Raikes, 
this  term  correctly  describes  the  character  of  the 
institution  according  to  the  now  generally  ac- 
cepted ideal.  But  if  this  be  so,  it  follows  that 
the  Sunday  school  must  aim  directly  at  impart- 
ing such  instruction  as  will  justify  this  ideal.  To 
conceive  of  it  in  any  way  which  will  obscure  its 
function  as  an  educational  institution  will  be  fatal 
to  any  right  conception  of  its  work. 

Yet  this  is  not  all  that  is  to  be  said.  Another 
fact  must  be  taken  into  account  before  this  defi- 
nition can  be  accepted  as  adequate.  The  Sunday 
school  as  now  existing  is  an  agency  of  the 
Christian  church.  It  is  to  be  classed  along  with 
public  worship,  preaching,  and  prayer-meetings, 
as  one  of  the  means  by  which  the  church  seeks 
to  accomplish  its  great  aim,  the  conversion  of 
men  and  their  cultivation  in  Christian  character. 
Occupying  this  position,  the  Sunday  school  can- 
not find  its  ultimate  aim  merely  in  the  acquisition 
or  impartation  of  knowledge,  even  though  it  be 
knowledge  of  the  Bible.  It  is  true  of  every 
school  really  worthy  of  the  name,  but  it  is  pre- 
eminently true  of  the  Sunday  school,  that  it  must 
seek  a  moral  and  not  merely  an  intellectual  end, 
must  aim  at  character  as  well  as  knowledge. 
And,  if  so,  then  of  course  the  moral  must  be  the 
ultimate  aim.     Knowledge  of  the  Bible,  itself  the 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  5 

proximate  aim  of  the  Sunday  school,  as  a  school, 
must  be  a  means  to  the  ultimate  end.  And  the  aim 
of  the  Sunday  school  as  an  agency  of  the  church 
must  be  recognized  to  be  to  secure,  through  teach- 
ing of  the  Bible  as  the  chief  means,  the  conver- 
sion of  the  pupil  and  his  development  in  Chris- 
tian character. 

If  all  this  is  true  of  the  Sunday  school  as  an  The  teaching 

shares  in 

institution,  it  must  also  be  true  of  the  teaching  both  these 
work  in  particular.  It  is  because  teaching  is  its  p^^'P^*" 
central  element  that  the  Sunday  school  is 
distinctively  an  educational  institution.  That 
which  gives  character  to  the  institution  must  it- 
self partake  of  the  character  which  it  gives  to 
the  institution.  The  teaching  of  the  Sunday  school 
must  aim  directly  at  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
of  the  Bible  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  But  none 
the  less  consciously  must  it  aim  at  the  attainment 
of  that  moral  and  religious  result  which  belongs  to 
the  school  because  it  is  a  part  of  the  work  of  the 
Christian  church.  The  central  element  in  the 
school  cannot  remain  unaffected  by  the  ultimate 
purpose  for  which  the  institution  itself  exists. 
The  teaching  of  the  Sunday  school  must  seek  as 
its  ultimate  aim  the  conversion  of  the  pupil  and 
his  development  in  Christian  character. 

Such  a  conception  of  the  purpose  of  the  Sun- 
day school,  and  in  particular  of  its  work  of  teach- 
ing, gives  to  the  institution  a  distinct  and  defi- 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  Sunday 
school  has  a 
distinctive 
place  of  its 
own 


nite  place.     It  distinguishes  it  from  other  schools 
which,  though  they  may  not  altogether  exclude 
the   Bible  from  their  curricula,  do  not  make  it 
the  only  or  even  the  chief  subject  of  study,  and 
which,  though   they  recognize  the  necessity  of 
including  the  cultivation  of  character    in    their 
aim,  assign  to  it  a  place  only  co-ordinate  with 
the  storing  and  training  of  the  mind.     It  assigns 
to    the   Sunday   school  a    definite  place   in    the 
varied    activities   of  the    church,   distinguishing 
it    from  the    ordinary    public    service  in  which, 
though  biblical  instruction  is  included,  worship 
and  the  immediate  application  of  truth  to  life  are 
the  determinative    elements;    from    the    prayer- 
meeting,    the    characteristics   of  which    are   the 
interchange  of  Christian  experience  and  the  culti- 
vation of  the  devotional  spirit;  from  the  evan- 
gelistic service,  where  the  human  will  is  directly 
addressed,  and  men  are  urged  to  right  decision ; 
and  from  the  philanthropic  work  of  the  church, 
in  which  the  spirit  of  Christianity  expresses  itself 
in  deeds  of  kindness.     Such  a  conception  of  the 
work  of  the  Sunday  school  recognizes  the  pecul- 
iar relation  of  our  religion  to  the  Bible,  and  the 
necessity  that  underneath  worship  and  devotion, 
ethical  instruction  and  the  persuasion  of  the  will, 
missions  and  philanthropy,  there  shall  be  a  firm 
foundation  of  knowledge  of  that  pre-eminent  reve- 
lation  of  God  which  is  the  source  and  support 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  7 

• 

of  Christianity.  It  recognizes  the  need  of  one 
service,  which,  having  the  same  ultimate  aim  as 
that  which  is  sought  in  all  the  activities  of  the 
church,  shall  seek  that  end  specifically  and  mainly 
by  instruction  in  the  Bible. 

If  it  be  asked  why  the  Sunday  school  should  Reasons  for 
seek  its  ultimate  aim  of  religious  development  in  of  its  aim 
a  sense  by  indirection,  why  the  ultimate  religious 
purpose  should  not  in  every  service  of  the  church 
be  directly  and  avowedly  sought,  at  least  two 
valid  answers  may  be  given.  In  the  first  place, 
there  are  certain  ends  which,  at  least  with  some 
people,  are  best  attained  by  indirection.  It  has 
long  been  recognized  that  the  affections  are  best 
cultivated,  not  by  commanding  ourselves,  for  in- 
stance, to  love  those  whom  we  ought  to  love,  but 
by  pursuing  a  course  of  action  which  tends  indi- 
rectly to  cultivate  love.  The  same  principle  holds 
in  the  cultivation  of  character.  What  argument 
and  appeal  and  exhortation  wholly  fail  to  accom- 
plish can  with  some  minds  —  perhaps  to  a  certain 
extent  with  all  minds  —  be  accomplished  little  by 
little  through  instruction,  conveyed  either  in  the 
exposition  of  teachings  or  in  the  study  of  history 
and,  especially,  of  biography.  And,  in  the  second 
place,  it  must  certainly  be  acknowledged  that 
the  most  solid  results  in  character  cannot  be 
attained  except  upon  a  broad  foundation  of 
knowledge.     The  fervent  appeal,  often  spurning 


8  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

knowledge  and  ignoring  instruction,  may  seem  at 
the  time  to  be  most  effective  in  saving  men  and 
advancing  the  interests  of  Christianity.  But  all 
experience  proves  that  alike  in  the  life  of  the 
individual  and  in  the  development  of  the  kingdom 
real  and  permanent  progress  is  made  only  when 
zeal  rests  on  a  solid  foundation  of  knowledge  of 
the  truth.  The  letters  of  Paul,  especially  those 
of  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  lay  great  emphasis 
upon  the  necessity  that  love  shall  abound  in 
knowledge  and  discernment. 
Effect  of  this  This  conception  of  the  determinative  purpose 

on"thework  of  the  Sunday  school  as  both  religious  and 
of  the  school  pedagogical  has  important  relations  to  almost 
every  problem  of  Sunday-school  management. 
The  character  of  the  curriculum,  the  qualifica- 
tions of  teachers,  and  the  method  of  study  and 
of  instruction  will  all  be  in  no  small  degree  deter- 
mined by  its  acceptance  or  rejection.  If  the 
Sunday  school  is  a  school  and  is  to  attain  its  end 
primarily  through  instruction  in  the  Bible,  does 
it  follow  that  it  ought  to  have  a  definite  curricu- 
lum, each  year's  work  of  which  shall  be  adapted 
to  the  pupil's  stage  of  development?  And  will 
a  graded  curriculum  do  away  with  the  principle 
of  uniformity  so  long  followed  ?  If  the  Sunday 
school  is  a  real  educational  institution,  can  it  be 
carried  on  by  untrained  teachers,  and,  if  not,  what 
is  the  nature  of  the  training  required,  and  what 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  9 

are  the  necessary  qualifications,  intellectual  and 
moral,  to  be  demanded  in  teachers  ?  Have  we 
today,  can  we  have  in  the  near  future,  any  large 
number  of  teachers  who  possess  these  qualifica- 
tions ?  If  not,  must  we  secure  proper  teaching 
by  a  more  careful  instruction  of  teachers,  and 
possibly  by  decreasing  the  number  and  increas-  Some  resuit- 

.  ri  -vAi-iii'  •       ^"S  questions 

mg  the  size  of  classes  r  And  will  this  again 
affect  in  an  important  way  our  church  architec- 
ture ?  If  the  Sunday  school  is  a  part  of  the 
distinctively  educational  work  of  the  church,  does 
it  demand  as  its  leader  and  overseer  a  man 
specially  trained  for  educational  work,  and  spe- 
cifically for  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  ?  Can  we 
ever  have  trained  teachers  until  we  have  at  the 
head  of  the  school  a  man  educated  in  the  Bible 
and  in  pedagogic  method  ?  And  does  this  in 
turn  call  for  a  new  type  of  minister,  the  teaching 
minister  alongside  of  the  preaching  minister? 
Finally,  if  instruction  is  the  central  function, 
and  yet  not  the  only  function,  of  the  Sunday 
school,  what  are  the  other  legitimate  departments 
of  its  work,  and  how  are  these  departments  re- 
lated to  the  teaching  work  and  to  one  another  ? 
Some  of  these  questions  will  be  discussed  in  the 
following  pages.  It  must  suffice  for  the  present 
to  raise  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  TEACHER  AS  A  STUDENT. 

Study  All  will  agree  that  good   teaching  is   the  first 

teaching  great  requirement  of  a  Sunday  school  that  is  to 
fulfil  is  true  function.  Now,  teaching  presup- 
poses study.  There  may  be  study  that  is  not  fol- 
lowed by  teaching,  but  there  can  be  no  teaching 
that  is  not  preceded  by  study. .  The  teacher  must 
be  a  student.  Not  that  all  study  is  study  of 
books.  One  may  teach  farming  having  studied 
it  only  in  the  school  of  practice,  or  botany  know- 
ing only  what  he  has  himself  observed.  One 
may  conceivably  teach  religion  on  the  basis  of 
experience  only.  But  in  every  case  he  who 
teaches  must  first  have  studied  what  he  is  to 
teach.  Our  Sunday  schools  are  correctly,  even 
if  not  adequately,  described  as  Bible  schools. 
They  teach  the  Bible  with  a  distinctly  religious 
motive ;  they  teach  religion ;  they  even  teach 
personal  religion,  and  base  such  teaching  on  per- 
sonal experience.  Yet  the  Bible  holds  the  cen- 
tral place  in  the  teaching,  and  it  is  this  which  is 
supposed  to  form  the  subject-matter  of  instruc- 
tion. The  Sunday-school  teacher  must  there- 
fore be  a  student  of  the  Bible.     If,  as  there  is 

10 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  ii 

reason  to  fear,  many  of  our  teachers  have  had  no 
training  in  the  study  of  the  Bible  and  have  no 
definite  idea  how  to  study  it,  there  can  be  few 
duties  more  urgent  or  more  important  for  the 
pastor  or  superintendent  than  the  teaching  of  the 
teachers  how  to  study ;  there  can  be  no  duty 
more  imperative  for  the  teacher  than  to  learn 
how  to  study. 

What  should  be  the  aim  of  the  Sunday-school  Study  of 

1.1-1  1  f       1         '^^^  Bible  is 

teacher  m  his  character  as  a  student  or  the  search  for  its 
Bible  ?  Specifically  the  answer  depends  on  what  ^^^^^s 
part  or  phase  of  the  Bible  he  is  to  teach.  If 
biblical  history,  then  he  must  study  its  history; 
if  biblical  ethics,  then  its  ethics ;  if  biblical  the- 
ology, then  its  theology.  But  all  these  answers 
are  included  in  the  one  answer  that  his  task  as 
teacher  is  to  teach  the  meaning  of  the  Bible,  and 
his  task  as  a  student  is  to  find  the  meaning  of 
the  Bible.  It  is  not  a  mistranslation,  or  a  mis- 
interpretation, when  the  words  which  literally 
read,  "Go  learn  what  this  is,  I  will  have  mercy 
and  not  sacrifice,"  are  rendered  in  our  English 
Bible,  "Go  learn  what  this  means."  It  was  the 
meaning  that  Jesus  wanted  his  hearers  to  find. 
The  meaning  of  the  Bible  is  the  Bible.  The 
student  of  the  Bible  must  be  first  of  all 
an  interpreter.  His  first  task  —  his  whole  task 
strictly  as  a  student  of  any  book  or  passage  — 
is  the  discovery  of  the  meaning  of  that  book  or 


12  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

passage.  Every  apparatus  or  method  which 
obscures  from  him  this  object  or  impedes  his 
progress  toward  it  is  a  hindrance  to  study. 

But  how  can  this  task  be  performed  ?  How 
can  the  student  discover  and  rethink  the  thought 
which  the  writer  of  the  book  has  expressed  in 
the  words  which  stand  on  the  page  ?  The  method 
must  be  for  all  students  fundamentally  the  same, 
but  we  have  in  mind  here  especially  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  who  brings  to  his  study  a  fair 
degree  of  intelligence,  but  no  special  linguistic 
or  exegetical  training. 
Attention  as  a  First  of  all  let  it  be  said  that  a  great  deal  can 
intercretation  ^c  accomplished  by  simple  attention^  provided 
only  the  purpose  to  discover  the  meaning  be 
clearly  and  firmly  held  in  mind.  Nearly  one- 
half  of  all  our  difficulty  in  the  study  of  the  Bible 
arises  from  failing  to  recognize  what  such  study 
is,  failing  clearly  to  define  to  ourselves  that  our 
first  object  must  be  the  discovery  of  the  meaning 
of  what  we  are  studying.  And  nearly  one-half 
of  the  remainder  arises  from  simple  inattention, 
failure  to  perceive  that  which  is  before  our  eyes, 
and  which  requires  no  special  exegetical  appara- 
tus to  interpret.  Attention  will  not  accomplish 
everj^thing.  One  sees  only  what  he  has  eyes  to 
see.  In  study  more  than  in  any  other  activity  of 
life  the  great  pedagogical  law  holds  :  "  To  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given."     The  more  one  knows 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  13 

already,  the  more  one  gains  by  each  new  act  of 
attention.  But,  generally  speaking,  intelligent 
attention  directed  toward  gaining  the  meaning  of 
a  writing  will  disclose  to  the  student  many  things 
that  he  had  never  perceived  before.  Moreover, 
it  will  show  him  that  there  are  certain  things  that 
he  does  not  understand,  and  will  raise  questions 
concerning  the  meaning  of  what  has  been 
observed  which  it  will  not  itself  answer.  Such 
interrogation  is  itself  a  great  gain.  To  define 
the  question  that  demands  answer  is  to  take  one 
long  step  toward  obtaining  the  answer. 

Attention  thus  prepares  the  way  for  investiga-  investigation 
tion  and  acquisition,  that  is,  for  the  search  for  tion^*^^"'^*' 
information  beyond  that  which  the  passage  itself 
yields  to  the  student's  present  powers  of  percep- 
tion. The  precise  scope  of  such  investigation 
and  the  line  of  division  between  attention  and 
investigation  will  manifestly  vary  with  the  stu- 
dent. What  one  man  perceives  at  a  glance 
another  must  search  out.  The  means  of  investi- 
gation available  to  one  man  may  be  wholly 
unknown  or  unusable  to  another.  The  teacher 
in  the  Sunday  school  is  not  generally  a  profes- 
sional biblical  scholar.  In  his  case  as  in  that  of 
his  pupils  the  great  question  is  :  What  can  atten- 
tion do  and  what  methods  and  instruments  of 
investigation  are  available  for  the  fairly  intelli- 
gent student  of  the  English  Bible  ? 


14  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

A  practical  answer  must  distinguish  two  some- 
what distinct  fields  of  study:   an  entire  book  and 
a  single  passage  of  the  Bible. 
Attention  Jt  is  a  familiar  thought  today  that   the  parts 

applied  to  a  .iiiri-r»-ii  i  i 

whole  book  of  any  smgle  book  of  the  Bible  are  adequately 
understood  only  in  the  light  of  some  knowledge 
of  the  whole.  Some  knowledge,  we  say,  since, 
of  course,  perfect  knowledge  of  the  whole  is  in 
turn  dependent  on  knowledge  of  the  individual 
parts.  The  necessity  of  such  knowledge  of  the 
whole  varies  greatly  in  different  books,  but  exists 
in  some  degree  in  respect  to  all.  It  is  greatly  to  be 
desired  that  every  Sunday-school  teacher  should 
begin  his  teaching  of  lessons  from  any  given 
book  with  some  large  knowledge  of  the  book  as 
a  whole,  of  the  circumstances  that  led  to  its 
being  written,  of  the  purpose  of  the  author, 
its  general  plan  and  structure.  Such  knowl- 
edge can  usually  be  gained  in  large  part  from  a 
careful  study  of  the  book  itself,  though  it  is  fre- 
quently the  case  that  the  evidence  of  the  book 
is  intelligible  only  to  him  who  knows  the  history 
of  the  period,  and,  indeed,  often  reveals  itself 
only  to  a  somewhat  highly  trained  power  of 
"  attention."  These  facts  render  such  prelimi- 
nary study  peculiarly  difficult.  If,  for  lack  of 
training  in  such  work,  the  teacher  is  unequal  to 
the  task  of  discovering  the  evidence  which  is  in 
the  book  itself,  he  will  do  well  to  call  in  the  help 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  15 

of  one  who  can  show  him  what  is  there,  making 
use  of  some  good  work  on  "introduction"  or  the 
articles  in  a  dictionary  of  the  Bible.  Yet  he  will 
do  better  who  learns  to  do  this  work  for  himself, 
using  first  attention  and  then  investigation.  Let 
him  read  the  book  through  attentively  to  dis- 
cover any  evidences  in  it  concerning  its  occasion 
and  purpose,  carefully  noting  in  writing  all  that 
he  finds.  Let  him  seek  to  find  out  its  great 
divisions,  if  such  there  be,  and  make  out  a  plan 
of  the  book.  Then,  when  "attention"  has  done 
its  perfect  work,  let  him  supplement  this  work 
by  that  of  "  investigation,"  following  out  histori- 
cal references  which  are  to  him  obscure,  or  other 
hints  which  may  point  to  the  occasion  of  the  book, 
using  for  such  purpose  whatever  trustworthy 
books  are  accessible.  Finally,  he  may  supple- 
ment his  own  work  by  that  which  other  students 
have  published. 

The  same  general  method  will  apply  to  the  ^"i^^j'to  a 
study  of  a  portion  of  a  book  assigned  for  a  single  passage 
particular  lesson.  The  general  scope  of  the  book 
being  before  his  mind,  the  aim  of  the  teacher 
should  be  to  find  out  as  accurately  as  possible 
the  exact  thought  expressed  in  the  particular 
paragraph  before  him.  And  attention  and  in- 
vestigation are  the  two  processes  by  which  he 
must  work. 

If   any   teacher  who   reads    these   pages   has 


i6 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Self- 
interrogation 
as  an  aid  to 
attention 


The  passage 
to  the 
process  of 
investigation 


been  perplexed  and  baffled  in  the  attempt  to 
5tudy  his  Bible,  we  commend  to  him  the  experi- 
ment of  sitting  down  to  the  study  of  the  lesson 
without  commentary,  "  quarterly,"  or  other  help, 
and,  with  a  clear  conception  of  his  aim  as  a  stu- 
dent, diligently  setting  himself  to  see  what  is  be- 
fore him.  Let  him  ask  himself  the  question  :  Do 
I  understand  the  meaning  of  these  successive 
words,  as  they  were  used  by  the  writer?  Do  I 
know  what  he  meant  by  the  individual  sentences? 
Do  I  perceive  the  connection  of  thought,  as  it 
lay  in  his  mind,  between  the  successive  sen- 
tences ?  Do  I  grasp  the  meaning  of  this  whole 
paragraph  ?  Let  him  treat  the  book,  or  the 
portion  of  the  book,  as  he  would  treat  a  letter 
which  he  had  just  received,  and  whose  meaning 
he  was  deeply  desirous  of  understanding.  In 
many  cases  we  are  sure  he  will  be  surprised  at 
the  result  of  this  simple  effort  to  see  what  is 
before  his  eyes. 

If,  when  in  any  stage  of  the  process  attention 
has  done  its  best,  there  still  remain  unanswered 
questions,  or  if  there  be  any  doubt  what  is  the 
correct  answer,  recourse  must  be  had  to  investi- 
gation. If  the  student  is  in  doubt  what  a  word 
or  phrase  meant  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  he 
must  seek  trustworthy  information.  If  it  is  a 
single  word,  an  English  dictionary  will  perhaps 
define  it.     If  it  is  a  concrete  term  like  "syna- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  17 

gogue"  or  "  Pharisee,"  an  ordinary  dictionary  of 
the  Bible  will  usually  give  the  needed  help.  If 
it  is  one  of  the  profounder  terms  of  the  biblical 
vocabulary,  such  as  "righteousness,"  "grace," 
"eternal,"  or  the  terms  that  seem  so  simple  in 
their  literal  sense,  but  which,  when  we  come  to 
ask  for  the  thought  for  which  they  stand,  are 
found  to  be  so  difficult  of  apprehension,  such  as 
"life,"   "light,"   "darkness,"   he   may  search   in  The  use  of 

'  <=>       '  J  dictionaries 

vain  in  the  dictionary;  for,  unfortunately,  there  is  and  commen- 

as  yet  no  adequate  dictionary  of  biblical  words  investigation 

for  the  English  reader.     In  such  case  he  must 

resort  to  some  other  source.     And  here  comes 

in  the  value  of  the  commentary  (the  term  being 

used  to  include  the  commentary  portion  of  all 

the  special  lesson  helps).     Its  proper  function  is 

not  to   save   the  student   the   trouble  of  giving 

attention,  but,  first  of  all,  to  answer  the  questions 

that    attention    has    raised   but    cannot    answer. 

The  question  answered,  the  word  defined  by  The  use  of 
dictionary  or  by  commentary,  attention  resumes  °^^^''  ^^^^^ 
its  work  to  discover  now,  if  possible,  by  help  of 
this  added  information,  more  of  the  thought 
than  was  perceived  before.  If  still  there  remain 
unanswered  questions,  or  if  new  ones  are  now 
raised — for  it  is  a  secondary  function  of  the 
commentary  to  raise  questions  that  untrained 
attention  fails  to  raise  for  lack  of  being  intent 
enough  —  he  must  betake  himself  again  to  such 


i8 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


After  inter- 
pretation, 
application 


helps  as  are  in  his  reach,  always  bringing,  if 
possible,  his  question  with  him  for  answer ;  or,  if 
he  already  have  a  provisional  answer,  comparing 
this  with  the  answer  of  the  student  who  wrote 
the  commentary,  and  judging  as  wisely  as  pos- 
sible which  is  the  true  answer.  By  such  process 
as  this,  combining  attention  and  investigation, 
seeking  always  the  whole  meaning  of  the  pas- 
sage, the  whole  thought  of  the  writer,  laying  all 
trustworthy  sources  of  help  under  contribution, 
but  always  making  them  serve  him,  not  sub- 
mitting himself  to  be  led  blindly  by  them,  the 
student  may  come  to  such  apprehension  of  the 
meaning  of  the  Scripture  as  is  possible  to  him. 

Will  these  two  processes  of  attention  and  in- 
vestigation prepare  the  teacher  to  teach  ?  Not 
necessarily.  But  they  will  infallibly  give  him 
material  for  teaching.  Often  they  will  make  the 
pedagogical  process  very  easy.  But  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  is  not  merely  a  teacher  in  the  nar- 
rower sense  of  the  term.  He  is  also  a  preacher, 
as  every  good  preacher  is  also  a  teacher.  He 
is  concerned,  not  simply  with  the  presentation 
or  impartation  of  truth,  but  has  to  do  also  with 
the  application  of  it  to  his  pupils,  with  its  moral 
effect  on  their  hearts  and  conduct.  This  means 
that  the  teacher,  besides  being  an  interpreter  of 
the  Bible,  must  be  a  student  of  humanity  also, 
and  likewise  an  orator,  in  the  best  sense  of   that 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  19 

term.  He  must  not  merely  discover  the  mean-  Real  teaching 
ing  of  a  portion  of  the  Bible  for  himself  ;  he  moves  the 
must  study  it  also  from  the  point  of  view  of  P"P^^ 
the  pupil.  Dr.  Henry  Clay  Trumbull  has  well 
insisted  that  there  is  no  teaching  by  the  teacher 
unless  there  is  also  learning  by  the  pupil. 
This  principle  applies  in  all  teaching,  whether 
of  arithmetic  or  geography  or  Scripture.  But 
there  is  a  further  fact  that  must  be  remem- 
bered by  the  Sunday-school  teacher.  It  belongs 
to  his  work  not  simply  to  inform  and  train  the 
mind  of  his  pupil,  but  to  bring  the  truth  to  him 
in  such  a  way  that  it  shall  influence  him  to  right 
feeling,  choice,  and  action.  And  study  is  as 
truly  required  to  prepare  the  teacher  to  do  this 
as  it  is  to  enable  him  to  discover  for  himself  the 
truth  he  is  to  present  to  the  mind  of  his  pupil. 

Thus  to  the  task  of  discovering  the  meaning  Therefore, 
by  attention  and  investigation  the  teacher  must  ^^"^^7  ^^ 
even  as  student  add  that  of  the  application  of  the 
lesson  to  the  needs  of  his  pupils.  Having  asked 
himself,  "What  can  I  see  here,  and  what  can  I 
find  out  that  I  do  not  at  once  see?"  it  still 
remains  to  inquire,  "  How  does  this  truth  apply 
to  my  pupils?"  To  answer  this  question  in  the 
study — and  it  must  not  be  left  to  the  spur  of  the 
moment  in  teaching — requires  knowledge  of  the 
pupil,  sympathy  with  him,  and  imagination  to 
conceive  his  attitude  of  mind,  his  likes  and  dis- 


20 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Apply  the 
meaning 
reached  by 


likes,  his  temptations  and  his  aspirations.  One 
might  even  say  that  the  best  way  in  which  a 
teacher  can  study  is  by  imagining  himself  his 
own  pupil.  No  part  of  the  teacher's  work  is 
more  difficult  or  delicate.  For  no  part  of  it  is  it 
more  difficult  to  formulate  rules.  A  few  sugges- 
tions may,  however,  be  ventured.  First,  let  the 
teacher  remember  that  he  is  to  apply  that  alone 
which  he  has  found  to  be  the  meaning  of  the 
passage  which  he  is  teaching.  Hence  applica- 
interpretation  ^'^^^  ^.^^  comc  Only  after  interpretation.  Only 
when  attention  and  investigation  have  done  their 
work  in  discovering  the  meaning  of  the  passage 
under  study  is  the  teacher  prepared  to  consider 
the  question  of  application.  It  is  one  of  the  be- 
setting sins  of  the  teacher  to  rush  headlong  to 
application  without  taking  the  time  for  patient  in- 
terpretation. In  the  second  place,  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  the  application  which  the  pupil  makes 
for  himself  is  often  more  forcible  than  any  that 
the  teacher  can  make.  The  clear  presentation  of 
a  religious  truth,  the  forcible  picturing  of  a  char- 
acter, good  or  bad,  v/ill  often  preach  its  own  ser- 
mon most  effectively.  Let  the  teacher  then  be 
sure  that  he  himself  clearly  sees  and  that  his  pupil 
clearly  perceives  the  event,  the  character,  the 
teaching  with  which  the  lesson  deals  —  and  some- 
times he  may  be  content  to  leave  it  there.  Yet 
still  again  let  it  be  remembered  that,  especially  in 


Let  truth 
make  its  own 
application 


J 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  21 

biographical  and  historical  study,  the  most  for- 
cible and  helpful  lessons  are  taught,  not  by  single 
incidents,  but  by  longer  surveys  of  history,  and 
by  prolonged  contact  with  the  character.  This 
is  pre-eminently  true  of  the  study  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  exerts  its  most  helpful  in- 
fluence on  the  mind  that  with  patient  study  seeks  Don't  force 
to  master  the  facts  of  that  life  and  to  understand  "^""^^ 
the  person.  Results  are  not  to  be  attained  at  the 
end  of  each  lesson.  Do  not  make  the  mistake  of 
concealing  the  life  itself  in  the  multiplicity  of 
"lessons"  and  applications.  Yet,  finally,  do  not 
be  afraid  of  application,  and  at  times  of  pointed 
application.  Study  diligently  beforehand  both 
the  lesson  and  the  pupil,  that  you  may  dis- 
cover whether  there  is  truth  here  taught  or 
illustrated  which  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the 
lives  of  your  pupils ;  and  then  so  direct  your 
teaching  that  this  truth  may,  if  possible,  impress 
itself  forcibly  on  the  mind  of  your  pupil.  Do  not 
force  a  foreign  meaning  into  the  passage  that 
you  may  have  it  to  apply.  This  is  alike  dis- 
honest and  disastrous  in  its  influence  on  your 
pupil.  Sometimes  leave  the  truth  to  the  pupil's 
own  conscience  to  enforce.  But  never  forget  But  be  sure 
that  your  teaching  fails  of  its  highest  end  if  in  ^^^^i  ^^ 
some  way  the  truth  does  not  both  reach  the  mind 
and  move  the  heart  of  your  pupil.  The  ultimate 
end  of  all  teaching  is  the  conversion  of  the  pupil 
and  his  building  up  in  Christian  character. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Shall  the 
teacher 
study  only 
intellectually  ? 


Investigation 
not  necessa- 
rily religious 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  TEACHER'S  STUDY 
UPON  HIMSELF. 

The  attentive  reader  of  the  preceding  chapter 
may  perhaps  have  turned  its  pages  with  the  ques- 
tion more  or  less  distinctly  in  his  mind  :  Is  the 
teacher's  study,  then,  to  be  a  purely  intellectual 
work,  a  mere  search  for  meanings?  If  so,  whence 
is  there  to  come  to  him  any  spiritual  benefit, 
whence  is  the  pupil  to  gain  that  spiritual  help 
which  is  the  ultimate  end  of  all  teaching  of  the 
Bible?  The  question  is  a  fair  one.  It  is  axio- 
matic that  the  teacher  who  gains  no  spiritual 
help  from  his  study  will  impart  none  in  his 
teaching.  If  his  method  of  study  is  such  that  it 
brings  him  no  uplift  or  strength,  it  can  hardly 
have  a  different  effect  upon  his  pupil.  Is  the 
method  which  we  have  been  describing,  then, 
one  which  will  be  barren  of  spiritual  result  for 
the  teacher  himself? 

First  of  all,  let  it  be  answered  that  the 
method,  looked  at  purely  on  its  intellectual  side, 
is  not  guaranteed  to  produce  spiritual  results  for 
either  teacher  or  pupil.  The  interpretative  pro- 
cess has  in  itself  no  moral  virtue  over  and  above 


22 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  23 

any  other  form  of  mental  activity.  Nor  is  the 
interpretation  of  the  Bible  certain  to  lead  to 
obedience  to  the  truth  it  may  discover,  or  fel- 
lowship with  the  God  who  gave  the  truth.  Inter- 
pretation can  of  itself  give  only  perception  of 
the  truth,  not  acceptance  or  assimilation  of  it. 
To  a  mind  in  spiritual  sympathy  with  God,  and 
in  love  with  truth,  interpretation  will  so  present 
the  truth  as  to  make  possible  the  assimilation  of 
it  and  an  obedience  to  it.  Without  such  spirit- 
ual sympathy,  interpretation  can  only  flash  the 
light  ineffectually  upon  a  mind  insensitive  and 
irresponsive.  Indeed,  more  than  this  is  to  be 
said.  The  lack  of  sympathy  dulls  even  the 
powers  of  perception.  The  mind  sees  most 
quickly  and  clearly  that  which  it  loves  to  see. 
He  who  has  no  love  of  beauty  stares  with  unper- 
ceiving,  unappreciative  eyes  at  the  artist's  master- 
piece. He  who  has  no  love  for  spiritual  and  The  religious 
moral  truth  can  never  understand  such  books  as  pensabie  for 
those  which  compose  the  Bible.  It  cannot  be  too  ^^^^^^"1^"^ 

^  of  the  Bible 

strongly  or  too  often  affirmed  that  a  merely  in- 
tellectual, non-religious  study  of  the  Scriptures 
is  not  only  spiritually  unfruitful,  but  unscien- 
tific. A  man  who  studies,  be  it  never  so  in- 
tently, the  prophets  simply  to  discover  political 
history,  or  the  Pentateuch  solely  in  search  of 
constituent  documents,  may  easily  fail  to  find 
anything  beyond  that  which  he   seeks.     Spiritu- 


24 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Spiritual 
sympathy  a 
condition  not 
a  substitute 
for  study 


al  sympathy  is  indispensable  for  the  sound  in- 
terpretation of  books  written  to  convey  spiritual 
truth.  As  the  Bible  is  intended  to  set  forth  re- 
ligious truth,  so  must  it  be  studied  in  a  religious 
spirit.  Hence  arises  the  need  of  prayer  in  con- 
nection with  study  of  the  Bible.  Only  in  the 
atmosphere  that  prayer  creates,  the  atmos- 
phere of  sympathy  with  God  and  truth,  of 
desire  to  know  the  truth,  to  act  in  accord- 
ance with  it  and  to  bring  others  into  fellow- 
ship with  God  through  it,  can  the  teacher  gain 
a  true  insight  into  the  truths  which  the  Bible 
teaches. 

But  let  it  not  be  overlooked  that  this  spiritu- 
al sympathy  with  divine  truth  is  the  cojidition 
of  successful  interpretative  study,  not  the  substi- 
tute for  it.  When  we  insist  upon  the  need  of 
studying  in  the  atmosphere  of  prayer,  we  do  but 
emphasize,  not  retract,  all  that  was  said  in  the 
previous  chapter  concerning  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  constantly  the  interpretative  aim  and 
pursuing  it  earnestly  with  attention  and  investi- 
gation. Prayer,  "the  Christian's  vital  breath,"  is 
also  the  interpreter's  clear  atmosphere. 

But  granted  that  the  teacher  studies  earnestly 
and  prayerfully,  shall  he  expect  and  demand 
a  definite  and  an  immediately  appreciable  spir- 
itual blessing,  daily  manna  out  of  heaven,  so  to 
speak?     Is  he  to  be  dissatisfied  with  himself  or 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  25 

with  his  way  of  studying  if  he  is  not  able  to 
taste  each  day  the  joy  of  a  conscious  elevation 
of  spiritual  life?  Is  he  to  regard  his  teaching  as 
a  failure  if  it  does  not  work  like  results  in  his 
pupils? 

Any  teacher  knows  that  in  the  realm  of  Must  religious 
study  harvest  does  not  follow  immediately  upon  gibie  study 
seedtime.  The  student  of  chemistry  does  not  be  immediate? 
expect  that  his  first  reaction  or  any  later  one  will 
immediately  lead  him  into  a  new  consciousness 
of  mastery  of  his  science,  nor  does  the  student 
of  history  expect  to  get  a  correct  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  human  development  when  he  first 
begins  the  study  of  Greece.  Each  may  find  his 
enthusiasm  growing ;  each  may  occasionally  be 
startled  into  a  new  appreciation  of  the  truth  he  is 
unfolding,  but  neither  is  concerned  continually 
with  his  enthusiasms  or  with  his  appreciation  of 
the  teachings  of  nature  or  history.  Each  knows 
that  the  more  data  he  obtains  the  broader  will  be 
his  outlook  and  the  more  intelligent  his  interest 
in  his  particular  subject.  But  to  seek  at  the  end 
of  any  hour  of  study  an  answer  to  the  question 
whether  he  were  becoming  a  better  chemist  or  a 
better  historian  would  be  to  dissipate  his  energy 
and  defeat  his  very  ambitions. 

So  in  the  realm  of  Bible  study.  Often  spir- 
itual insight  and  uplift  come  immediately  upon 
the  reading  of    a  passage.     There    are    times  in 


26 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


To  seek 
immediate 
quantitative 
results  both 
unnatural 
and  dangerous 


Spiritual 
meanings  to 
be  discovered, 
not  invented 


men's  lives  when  they  are  conscious  of  a  most 
rapidly  growing  Christian  experience,  but  such 
moments  are  generally  retrospective.  Men  are 
convinced  that  they  have  grown  rather  than  they 
are  growing.  He  who  constantly  attempts  to 
uproot  his  Christian  experience  in  order  to  meas- 
ure its  development  makes  his  life  miserable 
with  his  introspection.  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
to  be  established  and  developed  in  accordance 
with  natural  laws.  As  the  plant  grows  imper- 
ceptibly to  fruition,  so,  in  the  words  of  Jesus,  is 
the  kingdom  of  God  to  grow  secretly,  one  does 
not  know  how,  and  gradually;  first  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  The 
leaven,  though  it  leaven  the  whole  lump,  is  not 
to  accomplish  its  mission  at  once,  and  a  long 
time  separates  the  mustard  seed,  the  smallest  of 
all  seeds,  and  the  mustard  plant,  the  greatest  of 
all  herbs.  To  disregard  this  law  of  nature  is  to 
endanger  not  only  one's  peace  of  mind,  but  the 
truth  of  Scripture.  Spiritual  teaching  is  often 
not  to  be  obtained  from  a  specific  passage  by  any 
legitimate  method  of  interpretation,  for  the 
reason  that  it  contains  none.  The  constant  search 
for  such  teaching,  coupled  with  the  determina- 
tion to  extract  a  certain  amount  of  spiritual 
food  at  all  costs  and  within  a  given  time,  is  certain, 
by  inducing  the  student  to  seek,  not  what  the 
Scripture  meant,  but  what  he  wants  it  to  mean, 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  27 

to  lead  to  a  misuse  of  Scripture  and  a  positive 
perversion  of  its  teachings. 

What,  then,  may  we  say  is  the  true  method  of  ^'^le  study 

'  -'  •'  and  normal 

biblical  study  for  the  student  and  teacher  who  spiritual 
desires  to  get  from   it  a  real  spiritual  result  both  ^"^°^ 
for  himself  and  for  his  pupils?     At  the  risk  of 
undue  repetition  we  reply  :  First,  he  must  study 
the  Scriptures   with    the    determination  to   per- 
ceive and  appreciate   as   thoroughly  as  possible 
exactly  what  the  author  of  the  book  or  passage 
intended  to    say.     It   is  not  for  the   interpreter 
to    add    to    or    subtract    from    this     meaning. 
Second,  the    student   should  study  in  a  sympa- 
thetic   spirit;    and  this    implies   that    he    is    to 
endeavor  to   put  himself  under  divine  influence 
by  prayer.     Having  thus  endeavored  to  get  at 
the  truth   precisely  as  it  is,  and  to  bring  himself 
as  nearly  as  possible  to   the  author  of  all  truth, 
he  should,  in  the  third  place,  have  such  confidence 
in  that  truth  and  in  that  author  as  to  believe  that 
spiritual   growth    is    inevitable.     As  a  man   has 
confidence  in  the  power  of  God  as  revealed  in  the 
outer  world,  so  should   he  trust  God  as  he  is  re- 
vealed in  the  laws  of  human  nature.    Divine  truth 
will  not  return  to  its  maker  void  of  results.     He 
who  seeks  to  apprehend  exactly  the  teachings  of 
prophet  or  apostle  or  the  Christ,  and  who  is  will- 
ing to  incorporate   in  his  conduct  such  truth  as 
fast  as  it  is  revealed,  need    not  be  seeking  for 


28 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  truth  to 
be  trusted  to 
produce 
results 


quantitative  spiritual  growth.  Such  a  student  is 
working,  not  only  patiently,  but  scientifically,  and 
such  study  can  no  more  fail  to  produce  spiritual 
character  than  the  earth  can  fail  to  produce  a 
harvest  when  once  the  seed  is  planted  in  it. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  BASIS  OF  AUTHORITY  IN  TEACHING. 

I„ 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  vital  questions  Shaii  teaching 
connected  with  religious  instruction  was  opened  Sunday  school 
not  longf  since  by  the  report  of  the  United  States  be  "authori- 

^  J  ir  tative"? 

Commissioner  of  Education  upon  Sunday  schools. 
If  we  understand  it,  the  position  taken  in  the 
report  is  that  the  pupils  in  the  Sunday  school 
should  not  be  taught  to  investigate,  but,  with 
minds  kept  from  all  questions  as  to  biblical  diffi- 
culties and  problems,  should  be  taught  religion 
upon  authority.  Such  a  view  as  this,  therefore,  con- 
ceives, of  the  relation  of  the  teacher  to  the 
pupil  as  that  of  one  who  imparts  truth  to  minds 
incapable  of  accepting  truth  on  other  grounds 
than  that  of  the  authority  of  the  teacher  or 
church. 

7t  is  not  difficult  to  appreciate  the  strength  of  The 

h.i   .  .11  .,  .  .  justification  of 

a  position  as  this,  especially  on  its  negative  g^^}^  teaching 

side  of  protest  against  introducing  the  discussion 
of  biblical  "problems  "in  the  Sunday  school.  Most 
of  the  pupils  in  our  Sunday  schools  are  but  chil- 
dren, and  to  bring  to  them  questions  as  to  the  au- 
thorship of  the  Psalms,  or  of  the  authorship  of  the 

29 


30  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  would  be  to  confuse  their 
minds  without  bringing  them  any  information 
of  vital  importance.  Even  in  the  case  of  older 
pupils  it  is  still  true  that  many  of  the  problems 
connected  with  more  technical  biblical  study  are 
altogether  unsuited  for  discussion  in  ordinary 
Sunday-school  classes.  To  bring  to  an  immature 
mind  a  problem  over  which  the  best  scholars  of 
the  world  are  perplexed  would  be  to  awaken  doubt 
rather  than  interest,  and,  while  it  is  not  true  that 
doubt  is  the  worst  curse  that  can  befall  a  man,  it 
is  none  the  less  advisable  as  far  as  possible  to 
save  a  mind  from  doubts  which  are  not  likely  to 
be  laid. 

It  is  also  true  that  the  Sunday  school  is  not 
the  place  in  which  to  instruct  even  adult  classes 
in  the  detailed  methods  of  criticism  and  exegesis. 
Although  there  may  be  exceptional  classes  in 
Sunday  school  where  advanced  methods  are  pos- 
sible, as  a  general  rule  it  must  be  held  that  the 
instruction  given  in  the  Sunday  school  must  be 
comparatively  simple. 
What  is  But  what  shall  be  said  of  the  positive  side,  the 

"authorky"?  ^-ssertion  that  teaching  must  rest  upon  authority? 
To  whose  authority  is  the  teacher  to  appeal?  To 
his  own  or  to  that  of  his  church  as  expressed  in  its 
creed?  The  problem  is  perhaps  not  so  simple  as 
at  first  sight  it  seems. 

If  one  approaches  the  question  from  the  first 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  31 

point  of  view,  and  asks  how  many  Sunday-school 
teachers  are  authorities  because  of  their  profes- 
sional attainments,  it  must  be  said  that  the  per- 
centage of  such  teachers  is  small.  Occasionally, 
it  is  true,  the  pastor  of  the  church,  or  some 
instructor  in  a  theological  seminary  or  college, 
conducts  a  class  for  scientific  investigation,  but 
even  in  such  cases  it  is  not  always  true  that  the 
teacher  has  any  such  mastery  of  the  details  of 
the  question  as  to  make  his  opinions  of  weight 
simply  because  it  is  he  rather  than  some  other 
person  who  utters  them. 

Again,  if  one  ask  whether  the  teacher  is  to  in-  Not  that  of 

..,.,...  I  ..  -  a  church 

sist  that  a  thmg  is  true  because  it  is  supposed  to 
represent  the  position  of  his  church,  then  such  a 
method  of  teaching  seems  to  be  far  more  question- 
able. What  warrant  has  the  teacher  of  the  Sunday 
school  for  speaking  as  if  he  or  she  could  infalli- 
bly express  the  opinion  of  a  church?  And  if  this 
were  possible,  it  would  still  be  necessary  to  face 
the  fact  that  since  the  Reformation  it  has  hardly 
been  true  that  ecclesiastical  authority  has  been 
everywhere  recognized  as  legitimate  in  religious 
teaching.  Certainly,  among  those  great  bodies  of 
Christians  who  are  chiefly  interested  in  Sunday 
schools,  to  speak  of  an  authority  on  the  basis  of 
which  a  teacher  may  impart  instruction,  regard- 
less of  reasons,  is  an  anachronism.  Until  the 
infallibility  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher  as  the 


32 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  teacher's 
authority  that 
of  the  Scrip- 
ture 


And  this 
means  the 
authority  of 
an  interpreted 
Scripture 


interpreter  of  the  church,  and  of  the  church  as 
an  expounder  of  truth,  is  beyond  dispute,  we  may 
well  question  whether,  instead  of  pronouncing 
one's  opinion  upon  disputed  matters,  it  would 
not  be  better  to  avoid  discussions  of  such  mat- 
ters altogether,  and  limit  religious  instruction  to 
that  wide  field  in  which  appeal  can  be  made  to 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  and  of  the  other  men 
whose  words  have  been  preserved  in  the  Bible. 
Here  appeal  to  authority,  namely,  not  the  au- 
thority of  the  teacher,  or  of  his  church,  but  that 
of  the  prophet,  apostle,  or  Christ  whose  words 
are  quoted — that  is,  broadly  speaking,  of  the 
Scripture — will  be  by  most  minds  recognized  as 
legitimate  and  felt  to  be  powerful.  And  because 
such  appeal  undoubtedly  has  a  sound  basis,  how- 
ever difficult  it  might  be  for  teacher  or  pupil  to 
expound  the  argument  on  which  it  rests,  the 
teacher  may  well  content  himself  in  most  cases 
with  resting  upon  such  Scriptural  teachings  with- 
out discussion. 

But  this  in  turn  raises  the  question  whether 
the  teacher  who  recognizes  and  whose  pupils  rec- 
ognize the  authority  of  Scripture  shall  claim 
authority  for  his  interpretation  and  application 
of  that  Scripture.  For  if  teaching  is  to  be  in  the 
fullest  sense  authoritative,  both  interpretation  and 
application  must  in  some  way  reach  the  mind 
with  authority.    Can  the  teacher  safely  make  this 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  33 

claim?  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  misinterpret 
the  words  of  another.  Even  in  conversation  the 
liability  to  misunderstanding  is  so  great  that  few 
men  are  content  to  leave  important  matters  to 
unwritten  contracts.  But  the  difficulty  is  even 
greater  in  the  case  of  words  spoken  by  men  long 
since  dead;  for  ignorance  as  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  spoken,  the  peculiar  char- 
acteristics of  their  authors,  indefinable  changes 
in  the  meaning  of  terms,  all  combine  to  hinder 
one  age  from  accurately  understanding  the  words 
of  another. 

This  difficulty  can  indeed  be  to  a  considerable  The  finality  of 
extent  overcome  by  one  who  will  deliberately 
undertake  to  meet  it,  and  every  teacher  is  bound 
to  overcome  it  as  far  as  possible.  The  man  who 
would  understand  another's  words  must  rigidly 
exclude  from  his  mind  any  meaning  which  he 
thinks  those  words  ought  to  possess,  or  which 
he  would  like  to  find  in  them ;  and  with  a  self- 
effacing  honesty  seek  to  discover  exactly  that 
which  the  writer  meant  and  nothing  else.  And  The  moral 
this  brings  one  face  to  face  with  a  moral  element  fnLTpretation 
in  a  teacher's  use  of  the  Bible.  The  fact  that  the 
final  meaning  may  be  reached  lays  him  under 
moral  obligation  to  find  it,  if  possible.  The  fact 
that  such  certainty  as  yet  is  lacking  in  many  pas- 
sages of  the  Scripture  is  no  ground  for  his  arro- 
gating to  himself  the  license  of  understanding  a 


34 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The 

transition 
from 

interpretation 
to  application 


passage  in  any  way  that  he  sees  fit.  There  can 
be  but  one  meaning  to  a  passage,  and,  sooner 
or  later,  that  meaning  is  to  be  found.  To  use 
a  passage  in  any  other  way  than  that  justified  by. 
well-recognized  methods  of  interpretation  is  as 
dishonest  as  it  would  be  in  reporting  a  saying 
of  a  friend  to  give  it  a  different  meaning  from 
that  which  it  really  possessed.  No  novelty,  no 
depth  of  spirituality,  no  attempt  to  defend  or 
modify  a  biblical  teaching,  can  justify  the  use 
of  a  passage  of  Scripture  in  any  other  than  its 
original  meaning.  To  find  this  original  meaning, 
which  alone  has  true  Scriptural  authority,  is  not 
an  impossible  task,  but  it  is  often  a  difficult  one, 
and  the  teacher  who  would  claim  authoritatively 
to  have  interpreted  Scripture  must  be  well 
equipped  for  his  work. 

But  even  after  the  exact  meaning  of  a  pas- 
sage has  been  gained,  the  teacher  who  wishes  to 
appeal  to  inspired  authority  lacks  something 
of  complete  preparation.  How  shall  he,  after  he 
has  once  gained  possession  of  the  exact  thought 
of  Jesus,  or  prophet,  or  apostle,  apply  it  to  the 
needs  of  his  pupils?  Unless  we  mistake  greatly, 
many  teachers  fail  utterly  at  this  point.  Having 
obtained  the  meaning  of  a  passage,  instead  of 
teaching  it,  they  teach  about  it.  The  lesson  be- 
comes a  collection  of  stories  and  miscellaneous 
truth,  not  the  development  and  the   application 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  35 

of  the  authoritative  word.  It  may  be  interesting, 
but  a  melange  of  truths  will  have  little  influence 
in  stimulating  or  educating  the  Christian  spirit. 
Still  less  can  it  appeal  with  authority  to  the 
pupil's  conscience. 

And  yet  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  translate  the  Such 
thought  of  one  age  into  moral  dynamics  for  an-  dependent 
other.      To  accomplish  it  the  teacher  must  know  upon  historical 

insight 

not  alone  what  the  words  of  a  text  mean,  but 
what  it  meant  in  the  circumstances  under  which 
it  was  uttered.  Historical  knowledge  and  a  keen 
perception  of  historical  relations  are  indispen- 
sable. A  call  to  live  in  tents,  a  rebuke  for  long- 
ings for  Egyptian  leeks  and  onions,  a  promise  to 
make  fishermen  into  fishers  of  men,  each  in  itself 
is  intelligible,  but  its  application  to  modern  life 
somewhat  remote.  If  it  be  accurately  under- 
stood in  its  historical  settings,  each  is  seen  to 
contain  truths  that  are  full  of  present-day  value. 
And  the  same  is  true  of  many  another  passage 
of  Scripture.  But  such  skill  in  this  work  as  will 
give  one  full  assurance  that  he  is  rightly  apply- 
ing the  very  truth  of  Scripture  to  modern  life 
belongs  to  the  few,  not  the  many. 

Such  considerations  should  go  far  toward  pre- 
venting a  teacher's  dogmatizing  to  his  class,  and 
should  keep  him  ever  mindful  of  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  authoritative  truth  of  the 
Scripture    and    that    version  and  application  of 


36  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

it  which    he   presents    to   his  pupil   and  which, 
despite  his  best  endeavor,  will   always  be  some- 
what affected  by  the  medium  through  which  it 
Should  not      has  passed.     He  ought  to  teach  with  conviction 
schooieducate  ^nd  with  cuthusiasm.     But  he  will  do  well   still 
as  well  as        to  remember  that  his  authority  is  a  qualified  one, 

instruct?  ,  ,  .n  i  •  i   •  «•  i 

and  he  will  be  wise  to  cultivate  a  respect  for  the 
mind  and  conscience  of  his  pupil,  without  which 
indeed  good  teaching  is  impossible.  It  is  signifi- 
cant that  at  the  same  time  that  the  claim  is  made 
that  religious  teaching  must  be  authoritative,  the 
tendency  of  pedagogical  science  is  toward  the 
recognition  of  the  child's  individuality  and  of  the 
rightfulness  of  his  claim  to  be  allowed  to  investi- 
gate and  to  ask  questions.  It  is  very  true  that 
there  are  some  questions  in  religion  which  a 
child  can  ask  though  an  older  person  cannot 
answer  them  in  a  way  to  satisfy  a  philosopher, 
but  it  is  always  possible  for  the  teacher  himself 
to  deal  frankly  with  the  pupils'  questions  and  to 
set  him  an  example  of  honesty  in  dealing  with 
the  Bible.  An  intelligent  boy  or  girl  who 
five  days  in  the  week  is  being  trained  to  ask 
questions  and  not  to  rest  satisfied  until  he  has 
obtained  their  answer  will  not  be  long  in  detect- 
ing the  difference  between  the  instruction  which 
deals  with  nature  and  that  which  deals  with 
religion,  if  the  latter  be  merely  opinionative  and 
dogmatic.     Why   may  not  the  pupil's  mind  be 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  37 

treated  as  if  it  were  as  rational  in  its  search  after 
God  and  truth  as  it  is  in  its  search  after  the  ex- 
planation of  other  things? 

And  one  may  go  farther.    Even  if  it  be  granted   Provision  for 

1-11  M  .I  '^^  religious 

that  With  the  younger  pupils  a  certain  degree  growth  of  the 
of  ex  cathedra  teaching  is  advisable,  provision  P"P'^ 
ought  to  be  made  as  rapidly  as  possible  for  de- 
veloping these  pupils'  power  of  independent  faith 
as  they  grow  mature.  If  Paul  hesitated  to  exer- 
cise lordship  over  the  faith  of  the  Corinthians,  a 
teacher  of  a  Sunday-school  class  may  well  follow 
his  example.  Sometime  in  the  pupil's  life  he 
must  be  able  to  stand  alone  within  the  circle  of 
Christian  teachings.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Sunday 
school  so  to  train  his  mind  that  such  independ- 
ence may  be  intelligent  and  acquired  without  the 
painful  processes  of  reconstruction.  Every  man 
as  he  grows  mature  must  himself  discover  the  seat 
of  authority  in  religion,  and  he  is  a  poor  teacher 
who  never  prepares  his  pupils  to  make  that  dis- 
covery. 

It  is   assertive,  opinionative   teaching   in  the  '^^^ 
Sunday  school   that  has    led    so    many    of    our  teaching 
Sunday-school  pupils,  as  they  mature,  to  give  up  '"^^^tigation 
Christianity   as  anything  more   than  a  mystical 
faith — a  thing  to  be  experienced,  but  not  under- 
stood.    If  the  minds  of  these  persons  had  been 
from  the  very  beginning  trained  to  interpret  the 
Bible  and  to  grapple  with  religious  problems  fear- 


38  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

lessly  and  earnestly  in  the  light  of  its  actual 
teachings,  if  they  had  been  taught  proper  methods 
of  study,  looking  toward  the  development  of  a 
power  of  independent  judgment,  it  is  hardly  con- 
ceivable that  they  should  have  experienced  such 
a  reaction  against  Christianity  as  a  rational  thing. 
No  small  share  of  infidelity,  we  believe,  is  trace- 
able to  ignorant  and  overcertain  instruction  in  the 
Sunday  school.     Nowhere  is  reform  more  needed. 

II. 

Authority  But  what  is  to  take  the  place   of   doofmatism? 

finally  that  of     ^  .     ,  ,         .  ,      .       .  ,  .,. 

truth  Certamly  not  a  hesitant  and  timid  retailing  of  un- 

certainties. To  substitute  the  teacher's  doubts  for 
his  convictions  is  to  trade  silver  for  lead.  Obvi- 
ously the  object  to  be  sought  is  to  put  the  pupil  in 
possession  of  the  pure  gold  of  truth;  to  beget  in 
him  personal  convictions  as  near  to  the  real  truth 
as  possible  ;  to  lead  him  to  see  and  feel  for  himself 
the  intrinsic  and  permanent  authority  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible,  and  to  build  them  into  his 
life.  To  do  this  let  the  teacher  himself  set  the 
example  of  assuming  toward  the  Scripture  the 
humble  attitude  of  the  interpreter,  and  toward 
the  truth  when  found  the  humble  attitude  of  obe- 
dience, and  let  him  train  his  pupils  to  do  the  same. 
Let  him  seek  not  so  much  by  the  weight  of  author- 
ity to  drive  home  the  interpretation  and  appli- 
cation of  the  Scripture  which  he  has  discovered 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  39 

or  accepted  as  to  bring  the  pupil  face  to  face  in 
a  receptive  attitude  of  mind  with  the  truth,  that  it 
may  make  its  own  powerful  appeal.  In  short, 
let  the  teacher  in  the  Sunday  school  understand 
that  his  duty  is  not  to  enforce  his  own  views  upon 
the  pupil,  but  to  lead  that  pupil  to  study  the 
Bible  honestly  and  to  recognize  and  obey  truth. 
The  result  will  be  that,  while  there  may  be  fewer 
men  and  women  who  believe  blindly  the  truths 
which  as  children  they  have  received  from  some- 
one else,  there  will  be  more  who  are  believing 
intelligently  and  vitally  the  very  heart  of  Chris- 
tianity; for  they  will  find  the  basis  of  all  religious 
authority  for  themselves  in  the  truth  of  Jesus  and 
its  applicability  to  human  needs. 

But  it  will  be  needful   also  for  the  teacher,  The  Bible  not 
especially  for  the  teacher   of  the   more   mature  ^  collection  of 

A  '  atomistic 

pupils,  to  adopt  for  himself  and  to  impart  to  his  truths 
pupils  a  proper  method  in  the  use  of  the  Bible 
as  the  one  book  that  contains  the  final  word  upon 
God's  character  and  man's  duty.  Such  a  method 
must  rest  upon  a  right  conception  of  the  nature  of 
the  Bible,  and  such  a  conception  in  turn  will  nat- 
urally spring  from  that  open-minded  spirit  of 
interpretation  of  which  we  have  spoken  above. 
Coming  to  it  in  this  spirit  he  will  avoid  the  fatal 
mistake  of  looking  upon  the  Bible,  and  teaching 
his  pupils  to  look  upon  it,  as  a  collection  of 
atomistic  proof-texts.     So  to  consider  it    is    to 


40 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


It  is  the 
record  and 
product  of  a 
developing 
revelation 


Biblical  litera- 
ture as  the 
product  of  an 
historical 
process 


miss  its  greatest  lessons.  But  he  will  also  come 
to  see  that  the  Bible  is  something  more  than  the 
immortal  literature  of  a  nation  and  of  a  religious 
community.  It  is  that  of  course.  One  has  but 
to  look  at  the  Hebrew  Bible,  with  its  three  col- 
lections of  sacred  books,  to  realize  that  he  has 
before  him  the  attempts  made  by  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple at  different  periods  to  collect  those  writings 
which  they  judged  of  the  highest  worth.  But  not 
only  is  the  Bible  a  collection  of  literature ;  this 
literature  is  also  the  record  and  the  product  of  a 
historical  and  a  developing  revelation.  And  to 
view  it  in  this  light  is  to  see  most  clearly  its 
authority  and  the  ground  of  that  authority. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  help  pupils  to  see  this 
development.  The  painstaking  effort  of  scholars, 
however  much  they  may  differ  among  themselves 
as  to  details,  has  placed  beyond  dispute  this  fact, 
that  in  the  Bible  we  have  the  literary  productions 
of  every  stage  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Hebrew 
people.  The  saga,  the  folk-tale,  the  chronicle  of 
the  preliterary  period  ;  the  history  and  legislation, 
political  and  religious  teaching  of  national  matur- 
ity; the  lamentation,  the  prayer,  and  the  song  of 
praise  and  faith  from  years  of  national  misery — 
all  these  have  gone  to  make  up  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. Similarly  in  the  New  Testament  there  are 
the  writings  of  the  original  apostles,  of  Paul,  and 
of  those  who  were  taught  by  apostles.     It  is  a 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  41 

comparatively  simple  matter  to  make  one's  pupils 
realize  how  slow  was  the  rise  of  such  literature, 
and  thus  to  realize  how  gradually  the  world  was 
prepared  for  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus. 

And   they  may   be   easily   taught   something  This  literature 
even   more  important.     The  recosfnition   of  the  ^herecordofa 

i  °  growing 

fact  that  the  literature  com.posing  the  Bible  is  the  revelation 

.    . .  f.f.  ii-  ••  or  God 

product  of  different  ages  and  diverse  situations 
carries  with  it  the  recognition  of  the  Bible  as  a 
record  not  only  of  a  growing  knowledge  of  God, 
but  of  a  growing  revelation  of  God.  Popular  the- 
ology too  often  fails  to  grasp  the  significance  of 
this  fact.  According  to  it,  it  would  seem  as  if 
there  existed  before  the  foundation  of  the  world 
a  certain  number  of  divine  truths,  all  absolute, 
none  relative.  A  page  of  these  truths,  so  to 
speak,  was  given  to  Abraham,  another  to  David, 
another  to  Rosea,  another  to  Paul.  The  com- 
plete collection  of  these  revelations  constitutes 
the  Bible.  In  accordance  with  such  a  view,  reve- 
lation is  always  absolute,  of  equal  value  for  all 
time.  Clearly  enough,  any  recognition  of  the 
historical  processes  which  gave  rise  to  the  men, 
the  civilization,  and  the  thought  of  the  Scrip- 
tural literature  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  such 
conception.  But  in  reality  revelation  is  impos- 
sible apart  from  human  experience,  and  therefore 
conditioned  by  the  moral  capacities  of  the  person 
through  whom  it  is  made.  Only  the  pure  in 
heart  can  see  God  fully. 


42 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  historical        And  SO  it  follows  that  the  teacher  must  permit 

interpretation  t  •        i  •  -i  i  i      •  i  i 

of  a  and  assist  his  pupil  to  see  that  revelation  through 

progressive       morallv  imperfect  men  may  be  oute^rown.     The 

revelation  j  \.  j  o 

very  fact  that  a  truth  was  sufficient  for  one  age 
may  make  it,  at  least  in  part,  insufficient  for  that 
age's  successor;  for  revelation  is  dynamic ;  it  not 
only  fills  but  enlarges  one's  needs,  and  it  can  be 
final  only  as  the  moral  development  of  the 
person  through  whom  it  is  made  is  complete. 
If  the  law  was  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  us  to 
Christ,  the  folk-tale  was  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  to 
the  law.  To  elevate  every  religious  hope  and 
expression  of  an  imperfect  man  living  in  primi- 
tive conditions  into  infallible,  eternal  religious 
legislation  is  to  lose  sight  of  the  significance  of 
the  Bible  itself.  The  supreme  moral  revelation 
of  God  can  be  that  alone  which  has  been  made  in 
the  life  and  words  of  Him  who,  though  tempted 
like  prophet  and  apostle,  was  yet  without  sin. 
This  means,  therefore,  someone  may  ask,  that 
between  truth  one  should  prcach  only  the  teachings  of  Jesus  ? 
historical  Certainly  not.  There  are  truth  and  divine  reve- 
form  lation  throughout  the  Bible ;  but  one  must  learn 

to  distinguish  between  the  form  and  the  content 
of  truth,  and  to  discover  in  the  very  process  of 
gradual  unfolding  of  truth  and  the  superseding 
of  revelation  by  larger  revelation  -the  disclosure 
and  the  criteria  of  the  permanent.  The  moun- 
tain peak,  not  the  valley;  the  generic,  not  the 


The 

distinction 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  43 

specific;  the  Christlike,  not  the  merely  Jewish — is 
the  eternal  element  of  the  progressive  revelation. 
From  this  point  of  view  the  entire  literature  of 
the  Bible  is  full  of  inspired  teaching. 

It  may  be  too  much  to  say  that  every  pupil  or  '^^'^  ^  ^""^,^" 

■^  ^     -^  J   L     i  mental  condi- 

every  teacher  can  grasp  this  conception  and  hold  tion  of  correct 
it  firmly  and  consistently.  Nor  is  it  to  be  in-  ^^^  '"^ 
sisted  that  the  theoretical  aspect  of  the  matter 
should  be  much  discussed  in  the  Sunday  school. 
What  must  be  said  is  that,  as  the  underlying  pos- 
tulate of  Sunday-school  teaching,  the  atomistic 
conception  of  the  Bible  and  the  conception  of  the 
equal  and  perpetual  authority  of  all  its  teachings 
from  Genesis  to  Revelation  must  gradually  give 
place  to  that  view  of  the  progressive  character  of 
revelation  which  alone  the  Bible  itself  justifies. 

Indeed,  the  transition  has  already  begun,  and  rj.^^  historical 
with  most  helpful  results.     We  know  the  message  method 
of   the    prophets    as    never    before ;  we    under-  I^ceptance 
stand  the  sorrow  or  the  joy  that  fills  the  Psalms ; 
we  read  the   Pauline  letters  in  the  light  of  the 
times  that  gave  them  birth.     How  far  do  these 
historical  interpretations   resolve  difficulties  and 
illuminate     matters    already    judged    clear!     A 
child  taught  that  the  Bible  is  a  record  of  such  a 
progressive  revelation   will  early  learn  to  see  in 
every  step   of   Hebrew  history  "  foreshadowings 
of   the   Christ,"  and  in    no   mechanical    fashion 
will  come  to  see  how  in  Jesus  all  that  was  per- 


44 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  bearing 
of  this  upon 
the  faith  of 
the  maturing 
pupil 


manent  of  earlier  revelation  was  preserved  and 
made  a  matter  of  life.  As  he  grows  older  he  will 
find  little  temptation  to  abandon  his  early  faith. 
The  "  discrepancies  "  of  the  Bible  which  have 
played  such  havoc  both  with  the  faith  of  the  liter- 
alist  and  the  conscience  of  the  apologist  will  dis- 
solve before  him.  A  young  Christian  so  trained 
will,  as  he  reaches  maturity,  see  the  growth  of  the 
divine  element  in  human  experience,  and  will  wel- 
come all  truth,  whether  it  comes  through  the 
imperfect  life  of  a  David  or  the  perfect  life  of  his 
Lord.  He  will  use  the  Bible  gladly  and  intelli- 
gently as  a  source  of  supreme  teaching,  because 
it  reveals  to  him  eternal  truths.  But,  because  he 
knows  that  this  truth  came  but  gradually  and 
through  men  conditioned  and  limited  by  circum- 
stances and  forms  of  thought  in  part  or  wholly 
outgrown,  he  will  not  confuse  revelation  in  all  its 
stages  with  final  authority.  That  he  will  find  in 
the  truths  disclosed  and  attested  by  the  whole 
progress  of  historic  revelation,  and  brought  to 
full  and  clear  expression  in  the  words  and  life  of 
Jesus. 


CHAPTER  V. 

METHODS  OF  CONDUCTING  A  CLASS. 
In  Sunday-school  teaching,  as  in  all  intelligent  The  problem 

1  r     1  •  1  1  1        1    •  1  -1  •  of  method 

selr-directed  work,  method  is  subordinate  to  pur- 
pose. But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  method 
is  unimportant.  A  good  method  consists  simply 
in  such  an  adjustment  of  means  to  the  exist- 
ing conditions  as  is  conducive  to  the  attainment 
of  the  end  in  view.  If  the  end  is  important,  such 
adjustment  is  inferior  in  importance  only  to  the 
end  itself.  Method,  we  have  said,  using  the 
term  generically.  But  it  would  be  more  exact  to 
speak  of  "methods  "  in  Sunday-school  teaching; 
for  the  pupils  of  our  Sunday  schools  cover  so 
wide  a  range  of  age  and  intelligence,  and  the 
study  of  the  Bible  itself  includes  so  many  differ- 
ent specific  kinds  of  study,  that  it  is  highly  im- 
probable that  the  same  method  is  equally  adapted 
to  all  classes  and  all  subjects.  Nor  is  it  good 
pedagogy  to  leave  the  choice  of  method  to  chance 
or  the  mere  instinct  of  the  teacher.  A  "  natural 
teacher"  will  accomplish  much  by  any  method, 
and  will  to  a  certain  extent  instinctively  adjust 
his  method  to  the  particular  problem  presented 
by  a  given  lesson  and  a  given  class;  but  not  all 

45 


46 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Classification 
of  methods 


I.   The 

recitation 
method 


teachers  are  "  natural  teachers,"  and  even  for 
those  who  are  such,  instinctive,  unreflecting  ad- 
justment of  means  to  end  can  hardly  do  the  work 
of  reflection  and  intelligence.  Sunday-school 
teaching  is  a  work  of  too  much  importance  to  be 
done  with  any  less  than  the  most  intelligent  pos- 
sible adjustment  of  methods  to  existing  con- 
ditions and  ends  in  view. 

What,  then,  are  the  possible  methods  of  so 
conducting  a  Sunday-school  class  as  to  make 
one's  teaching  actually  effective  ?  Leaving  out 
of  account  for  the  present  the  very  youngest  schol- 
ars, we  may  name  four  methods  which  singly  or 
in  combination  may  be  employed  in  Sunday-school 
teaching:  the  recitation  method,  the  conversa- 
tion method,  the  lecture  method,  the  seminar 
method. 

I .  The  recitatio7i  ;;/f//2^<^  presupposes  the  assign- 
ment of  specific  tasks  and  the  report  of  the  pu- 
pil upon  those  tasks,  either  orally  or  in  writing. 
It  naturally  implies  a  text-book  or  something 
equivalent  to  it.  Such  a  text-book  may  be  the 
Bible  itself,  portions  of  which  are  committed  to 
memory  and  recited  in  the  class.  It  may  be  a 
"lesson  quarterly"  containing  questions  to  be 
studied  at  home  and  answered  in  class.  It  may 
be  some  book  on  biblical  history  or  biblical 
teaching  in  which  the  content  of  the  Bible  is  pre- 
sented in  a  form  for  study  and  recitation.     Reci- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  47 

tation  may  be  oral  or  written,  or  partly  one  and 
partly  the  other.  The  central  aim,  intellectually 
speaking^,  of  the   recitation  method  is  to  induce  Purpose  of  the 

*-  "  recitation 

the  pupil  to  study  the  lesson  before  coming  to 
the  class,  and  the  chief  use  of  the  lesson-hour, 
again  speaking  from  the  intellectual  point  of 
view,  and  ignoring,  though  by  no  means  under- 
valuing, the  spiritual  and  religious  aim  which  is 
dominant  in  the  whole  process,  is  to  hear  the  pu- 
pils' answers,  approving  those  that  are  right  and 
correcting  those  that  are  wrong.  The  work  of 
instruction,  in  the  exact  sense  of  the  word,  is  re- 
duced to  a  minimum  by  such  a  method  strictly 
applied.  The  teacher  is  not  so  much  an  instruct- 
or as  a  quiz-master,  though  by  no  means  neces- 
sarily in  an  offensive  sense  of  the  term.  His 
duty  is  not  so  much  to  teach  the  pupil  as  to  see 
that  the  pupil  learns  what  is  set  him  to  learn. 
The  great  advantage  of  such  a  method  is  that, 
given  a  good  text-book  and  a  faithful  application 
of  the  method,  the  pupil  is  sure  to  get  some  real 
and  valuable  information,  some  weekly  addition 
to  his  store  of  biblical  knowledge.  Nor  is  the 
function  of  the  teacher  a  menial  one.  To  induce 
the  pupil  to  study,  so  to  conduct  the  lesson-hour 
that  he  will  be  interested  and  ambitious  to  pre- 
pare his  lesson  beforehand,  and  that  the  recita- 
tion of  it  will  be  interesting  and  illuminating, 
setting  the  facts  in  clearer  light  and  impressing 


48 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Danger  of 
mechanical 
treatment  of 
the  lesson 


them  more  deeply  on  his  mind  —  all  this  is 
work  which  is  much  above  the  menial  level,  and 
may  tax  to  the  utmost  the  ingenuity  and  ability 
of  even  a  bright  and  earnest  teacher. 

The  chief  dangers  of  such  a  method  are  two. 
On  the  one  side  there  is  the  danger  of  a  rigid, 
mechanical,  unsympathetic  way  of  employing 
it.  A  Sunday-school  teacher  —  the  same  danger 
exists  in  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  and  geogra- 
phy— who  comes  to  his  work  with  no  knowledge 
of  the  subject  beyond  that  contained  in  the  spe- 
cific lesson  assiged  in  the  text-book,  who  has  no 
insight  and  no  outlook,  may  indeed  put  the  ques- 
tions set  down  to  be  answered,  or  call  for  a  reci- 
tation of  the  matter  assigned  to  be  learned,  but 
he  can  never  be  a  true  teacher.  No  amount  of 
strictness  in  enforcing  set  tasks  can  supply  the 
place  of  enthusiastic  interest  in  the  subject  and 
the  pupils.  Such  interest  and  enthusiasm  are 
especially  needful  in  Sunday-school  teaching, 
where  the  things  taught  depend  so  much  for  their 
effectiveness  on  the  spirit  in  which  they  are 
taught,  and  where  even  the  retention  of  the  pupil 
in  the  school  is  often  dependent,  not  on  parental 
authority,  but  on  the  maintenance  of  his  interest 
in  his  work. 

But  an  even  greater  danger,  and  one  which  is 
much  oftener  realized  in  experience,  is  that  the 
recitation  method  shall  prove  ineffective  through 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  49 

a  lax  and  unskilful  use  of  it.  In  multitudes  of 
classes  in  which  this  method  is  supposed  to  be 
employed,  the  class  being  supplied  with  a  text- 
book and  the  text-book  itself  being  constructed  Danger  of 
for  this  method  and  for  no  other,  there  is  scarcely  p^'fofTe  °" 
a  pretense  of  real  study  beforehand,  or  of  real  teacher 
recitation  in  the  class.  The  teacher  does  not  ex- 
pect the  pupil  to  prepare  the  lesson  beforehand ; 
and  the  pupil  does  not  disappoint  the  teacher's 
expectation.  If  the  lesson  calls  for  written 
answers,  the  teacher  neither  has  such  answers 
read  in  the  class  nor  examines  them  afterward. 
If  there  are  questions  to  be  answered  orally,  these 
are  read  off  to  the  class  in  general,  not  addressed 
to  any  particular  pupil ;  they  are  answered  by 
the  one  or  two  pupils  in  the  class  whose  general 
biblical  knowledge  enables  them  to  make  an  ex- 
tempore reply,  and  the  exercise  closes  with  a  few 
earnest  remarks  of  a  religious  purpose,  the  force 
of  which  is  largely  lost  because  they  have  no  root 
or  basis  in  the  questioning  and  answering  that 
have  preceded,  and  there  has  been  no  preparation 
of  the  soil  of  the  mind  to  receive  spiritual  truth. 
Anything  much  more  profitless  than  this,  more 
calculated  to  discourage  study  and  to  give  the 
pupils  a  distaste  for  the  Sunday  school,  for  the 
study  of  the  Bible,  and  for  the  Bible  itself,  it 
would  be  hard  to  devise. 

The  fault,  however,  in  both  these  cases  lies 


50  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

not  chiefly  in  the  method,  but  in  the  unskilful  or 
negligent  employment  of  it.  The  recitation 
method,  either  alone  or  as  the  chief  element  of  a 
combination  of  methods,  is  the  best  yet  devised 
for  pupils  between  the  ages  of  eight  and  sixteen. 
What  is  needed  is  intelligence,  enthusiasm,  con- 
scientiousness in  the  employment  of  it. 
^-  The  2.  Thedistinctivecharacteristicof  the^r^/zz'^r.j^- 

conversation  ,  ,  ... 

method  tio?i  imtJiod  is  that  it  substitutes  extempore  ques- 

tioning and  discussion  for  assigned  tasks.  In- 
stead of  finding  out  what  the  pupil  has  already 
learned,  the  teacher  sets  him  to  thinking  and 
studying  on  the  spot,  leads  him  by  a  Socratic 
process  of  questioning  to  perceive  the  facts  and 
to  see  the  truth  in  the  lesson  as  he  could  not 
have  seen  it  beforehand.  The  teacher  in  this 
case  teaches,  not  simply  hears  the  pupil  recite. 

In  the  hands  of  a  skilful  teacher  this  method 
can  be  made  both  very  attractive  and  very  in- 
structive, even  for  a  class  which  has  not  studied 
the  lesson  at  all  beforehand.  But  this  very  fact 
suggests  one  of  the  dangers  of  such  a  method. 
Because  it  can  be  used  without  previous  study  on 
the  part  of  the  class,  because  it  is  more  interest- 
ing than  the  hearing  of  recitations,  there  is  a 
constant  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  pupils  to 
neglect  preparation,  and  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  to  allow  them  to  do  so.  And  when  this 
danger  is  actually   realized,  it  easily   opens  the 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  51 

door  for  another,  viz.,  the  degeneration  from  real 
Socratic  instruction  into  mere  desultory  conver- 
sation.    The  lack  of  preparation  on  the  part  of  Danger  of 
the    pupil    makes    impossible    the    best   kind    of  into^desuitoiy 
teaching.     The  teacher  is    first    compelled    and  ^^^^ 
then  contented  to  move  on  the  mere  surface  of 
the  matter,  and  the  method,  at  first  resorted   to 
in  order  to  make  the  exercise  more  interesting 
than  a  recitation,  ends  by  being  more  dull  and 
more  unprofitable  than  the  most  rigid  kind    of 
reciting.     Almost  any  person  of  wide  observa- 
tion in  Sunday-school  work  must  have  seen  illus- 
trations of  precisely  these  results. 

The  way  of  escape  from  these  dangers  of  the  The 
conversation  method  is  obvious.     It  ought  never  ghouiTbe^'^ 
to  be  used  singly  and  alone,  save  for  a  class  of  supplemented 

1     1  1  r  1         •      1  1    W  Other 

adults  who  tor  some  reason  cannot  be  mduced  methods 
to  study  the  lesson  beforehand.  In  such  a  case 
a  skilful  teacher  can  compel  his  pupils  to  study 
with  him  for  the  hour  of  the  class-meeting, 
though  they  will  not  do  it  beforehand,  and  may, 
by  constant  watchfulness,  keep  the  work  from 
degenerating  into  desultory  discussion  of  unim- 
portant or  irrelevant  matters.  But  for  a  class 
made  up  of  pupils  capable  of  being  induced 
to  study  beforehand,  the  conversation  method 
should  always  be  accompanied  by  some  elements 
of  the  recitation  method.  The  pupil  should  have 
definite  work  to  do  beforehand  and  should    be 


52  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

given  an  opportunity  to  show  that  he  has  done 
it.  This  may  be  accomplished  in  various  ways. 
The  simplest  way,  and  perhaps  the  poorest,  is  to 
divide  the  hour,  spending  a  part  of  it  in  recita- 
tion, a  part  in  discussion.  Another  method  which 
a  skilful  teacher  may  use  is  in  the  course  of  dis- 
cussion to  test  the  pupil's  preparation  and  thus 
stimulate  him  always  to  come  prepared.  Still 
another  way,  of  which  much  more  use  might  be 
made  than  is  usually  the  case,  is  to  assign  certain 
questions  beforehand  to  be  answered  in  writing. 
In  this  case  it  is  indispensable  that  the  teacher 
should  read  these  answers,  and  hand  them  back 
to  the  pupil  with  suggestions  and  corrections. 
Advantages  of        These  and   other   means  which   will    sugfOfest 

combining  ,  ,  .  .  ,  ,     ^^ 

methods  thcmselves   to  mgemous  teachers   may    be    em- 

ployed to  stimulate  and  guide  the  pupil  in  his 
study  outside  the  class-hour,  and  so  to  prevent 
the  intellectual  and  moral  degeneration  of  the 
class-work. 

What  has  been  said  sufficiently  indicates  that 
neither  the  recitation  method  nor  the  conversa- 
tion method  is  satisfactory  alone,  but  each  re- 
quires complementing  by  the  other,  and  that 
neither  method  alone,  nor  both  methods  together, 
can  be  successfully  employed  without  common- 
sense,  industry,  ingenuity,  and  sympathy  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher. 

The  two    methods    thus    far    discussed  —  the 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  53 

recitation  method  and  the  conversation  method 
—  are  specially  adapted  to  the  classes  of  the 
secondary  division,  made  up  of  pupils  from  eight 
or  ten  to  eighteen  years  of  age.  It  remains  to 
speak  of  methods  specially  adapted  to  adult 
classes. 

3.  In  the  lecttire  method,  pure  and  simple,  the  3-  Theiec- 
teacher  demands  no  preparation  on  the  part  of 
his  pupils,  and  in  the  conduct  of  the  class 
calls  for  no  recitation  and  asks  no  questions. 
He  instructs  by  conveying  information,  with  or 
without  application  of  that  which  is  taught  to 
personal  conduct  and  current  ethical  problems. 

In  proportion  as  the  element  of  application  is 
prominent  the  lecture  approximates  to  a  sermon. 
Some  of  the  best  teaching  of  adult  classes  that 
we  have  in  Sunday  schools  today  is  simply  good 
expository  preaching.  We  cannot  have  too 
much  of  it,  unless  it  displaces  something  still 
better.  It  is  especially  adapted  to  large  classes 
in  city  churches.  For  its  successful  employment 
it  is  necessary  that  the  class  should  have  a  room 
by  itself,  that  the  teacher  should  be  a  well- 
informed  student  of  the  Bible,  that  he  should  be 
a  good  speaker  and  skilful  in  handling  an  audi- 
ence. It  has  the  great  advantage  that  it  makes 
it  possible  to  employ  for  the  instruction  of  a 
large  number  of  hearers  the  best  teacher  the 
church  possesses  for  this  kind   of  work,  instead 


54  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

of  dividing  the  pupils  among  several  teachers  of 
inferior  ability.  It  tends  to  silence  those  well- 
its  advantages  meaning  hobby-riders  who  are  likely  to  be  found 
in  adult  classes  jn  almost  any  adult  class  conducted  on  the 
conversational  method,  and  who  are  continu- 
ally diverting  the  discussion  from  its  legitimate 
channel  to  irrelevant  and  unprofitable  themes. 
Given  a  good  teacher,  such  a  class  can  often  draw 
more  adults  into  the  Sunday  school  than  any 
number  of  small  classes  conducted  on  a  differ- 
ent method  could  do,  both  because  the  teaching 
is  better  than  it  would  be  in  the  small  classes 
and  because  there  is  a  freedom  from  any  danger 
of  being  called  on  to  expose  one's  ignorance. 
There  are  probably  few  Sunday  schools  of  any 
size  which  ought  not  to  have  at  least  one  class 
conducted  avowedly  and  invariably  on  the  lecture 
method,  provided  only  a  competent  teacher  can 
be  obtained.  It  is  even  to  be  counted  among 
the  advantages  of  such  a  method  that,  if  the 
teacher  is  not  competent,  he  cannot  long  hold 
his  class. 
Difficulties  But  the  limitations  of  this  method  are  as  obvi- 

in  the  method  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  as  its  advantages.  It  is  but  little 
calculated  to  induce  the  pupil  to  study.  Now 
and  then  a  lecturer  may  make  the  Bible  so  inter- 
esting as  to  stimulate  studious  hearers  to  study 
it  for  themselves.     But  most  people  are  as  lazy 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  55 

as  circumstances  permit,  or  too  busy  to  do  for 
themselves  what  others  will  do  for  them.  And 
expository  preaching  is  only  less  calculated  than 
other  kinds  of  preaching  to  encourage  hearers  to 
take  their  spiritual  nourishment  from  the  hands 
of  the  preacher  rather  than  to  search  it  out  for 
themselves.  At  best  the  lecture  method  is  but 
a  concession  to  preoccupation,  or  to  ignorance, 
or  —  alas!  that  it  must  be  said  —  to  laziness  ;  a 
necessary  one,  but  still  a  concession. 

To  some  extent  the  defects  of  this  method  of  Possible  com- 
teaching  may  be  corrected  by  combining  with  it  the  three 
some  of  the  features  either  of  the  recitation  or  "methods 
of  the  conversational  method.     Thus  particular 
themes  may  be  assigned  to  certain  members  of 
the  class  for  special  study,  reports  of  their  read- 
ing being  presented  before  the  next  lecture.     Or 
printed  questions   may  be  given   out  to  be  an- 
swered  in   writing,  the   papers    being   corrected 
and  returned.     But  these  very  improvements  of 
the  lecture  method  tend,  unless   managed  with 
care  and  skill,  to  destroy  the  advantages  of  the 
method  itself.     And  the  lecture  method  must  re- 
main subject  to  the  great  disadvantage  that  it 
tends  but  slightly  to  encourage  real  study. 

4.  But  what  is  the  best  method  for  advanced 
classes  made  up  of  those  who  are  not  beyond  all 
hope  of  becoming  real  students  of  the  Bible  ? 
The  teaching  of  the  Bible  in  academies  and  col- 


nar  method 


56  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

leges  is  producing — we  hope  the  improvement  in 
the  pedagogical  methods  of  the  Sunday  school  is 
going  to  produce  —  a  class  of  real  Bible  students 
4.  The  semi-  in  our  cliurchcs.  These  people  will  want  to  con- 
tinue their  study  of  the  Bible  beyond  the  age  of 
youth,  but  they  will  want  it  to  be  real  study;  not 
mere  talk,  however  interesting.  For  this  class, 
already  existing  in  our  churches,  and  destined, 
we  hope,  constantly  to  increase,  we  are  persuaded 
that  there  is  needed  a  method  different  from  any 
that  we  have  thus  far  described.  For  lack  of  a 
better  title  we  shall  call  it,  using  a  German  name, 
the  seminar  method.  A  seminar  is  a  group  of 
students  pursuing  investigative  study  under  lead- 
ership. The  pupil  has  tasks  assigned,  as  in  the 
recitation  method,  but  the  task  is  one,  not  of 
memorizing,  but  of  investigation ;  not  of  mere 
acquisition,  but  of  discovery.  If,  for  example, 
the  subject  of  study  is  the  religious  ideas  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  the  student  is  neither  set  to  learn 
these  ideas  from  a  text-book,  in  which  someone 
has  formulated  them  for  him,  nor  gently  led  to 
perceive  them  through  a  conversational  discus- 
sion of  the  book  of  Isaiah,  nor  informed  concern- 
ing them  in  a  lecture ;  but  is  sent  direct  to  the 
prophecies  of  Isaiah,  with  instruction  to  discover 
and  report  to  the  class  what  he  finds  to  be  the 
ideas  of  the  prophet  on  this  or  that  theme  which 
is  specially  assigned  to  him.     The  same  method 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  57 

is  applicable  to  a  multitude  of  similar  subjects, 
such  as  the  interpretation  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  the  ethical  teachings  of  Jesus,  the  the- 
ology of  Paul.  Such  a  method,  sufficiently  sim-  The  method 
plified  and  applied  to  carefully  selected  subjects,  "^  ^fj  ^^^^ 
is  practicable  even  with  pupils  of  the  high-school 
or  college  age.  But  it  is  evident  that  its  chief 
field  is  among  somewhat  mature  pupils,  and  espe- 
cially among  those  who  are  intellectually  mature. 
Indeed,  there  is  no  class  to  whom  it  would  be 
less  applicable  than  to  adults  of  untrained  mind. 
It  might  be  so  simplified  that  it  could  be  used 
with  children ;  its  use  with  people  who  have  lost 
the  flexibility  of  the  youthful  mind  without  gain- 
ing the  strength  of  a  trained  mind  would  be  quite 
impossible.  Even  if  they  were  not  utterly  baf- 
fled by  the  impossibility  of  assuming  the  attitude 
of  mind  required  for  investigation  they  would  be 
almost  certain  to  study,  not  for  the  purpose  of 
discovering  truths  and  facts,  but  for  that  of 
establishing  opinions  already  accepted  or  of  dis- 
proving those  already  rejected. 

It  is  equally  evident  that  such  a  method  de- 
mands thoroughly  competent  and  trained  teach- 
ers. Young  people  who  have  never  themselves 
been  taught  by  anything  but  a  text-book  or  lec- 
ture method  are  incompetent  to  become  the  lead- 
ers of  classes  pursuing  investigative  work.  There 
are  many  Sunday  schools  in  which  work  of  this 


58  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

kind   cannot  be   done,  because   they  have  abso- 
lutely no  teacher  capable  of  conducting  it ;  per- 
haps there  are  very  few  schools  in  which  it  can 
The  need  of     be  donc.     The  same  statement  applies,  only  less 
teachers  swccpingly,  to  the   lecture  method.     Even  the 

pastor  is  in  many  cases  incapable,  not  from  lack 
of  time  only,  but  from  lack  of  training,  of  doing 
either  of  these  kinds  of  work  well.  That  this  is 
so  simply  emphasizes  the  fact  that  our  Sunday 
schools  are  still  a  long  distance  from  their  goal, 
and  that  there  is  pressing  need  of  schools — we 
do  not  mean  now  Sunday  schools,  but  colleges  or 
seminaries  —  in  which  men  and  women  shall  be 
trained  for  this  higher  order  of  teaching.  But  in 
some  of  our  churches  there  are  men  and  women 
possessing  the  requisite  scholarship  and  the  requi- 
site skill  in  teaching  either  to  conduct  a  lecture- 
class  or  to  lead  an  investigative  class.  Such  men 
and  women  ought  to  be  used,  both  for  the  gen- 
eral instruction  of  the  church  and  the  education 
of  those  who  are  themselves  to  be  teachers. 

Would  it  not  be  a  profitable  exercise  for  every 
Sunday-school  teacher  to  scrutinize  his  own 
method  of  teaching,  inquiring  of  what  type,  or 
what  mixture  of  types,  it  is,  and  whether  it  is  the 
one  that  is  best  adapted  to  the  class  and  the  sub- 
ject he  is  teaching,  and  whether  he  is  employing 
it  so  as  to  avoid  its  dangers  and  to  gain  its  ad- 
vantages ?     Might  it  not  be  a  useful  exercise  for 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  59 

the  superintendent  to  inquire  what  methods  of 
teaching  are  in  use  in  his   school,  whether  the  ^  suggestion 

.to  superintend- 

methods  employed  are  the  best  for  the  classes  m  ents 
which  they  are  used,  whether  some  new  methods 
might  not  be  employed,  and  whether  the  intro- 
duction of  these  methods  might  not  bring  into 
the  school  some  persons  who  are  not  now  drawn 
by  the  methods  in  use  ?  Have  you  a  lecture-class 
in  your  school?  Is  the  teacher  a  good  lecturer? 
Have  you  an  investigative  class  ?  Have  you 
the  material  to  make  one  and  a  teacher  to  con- 
duct it  ? 


CHAPTER  VI. 

METHOD  AS  DETERMINED    BY   THE  SUBJECT 

OF  STUDY. 

Whatever  particular  form  of  teaching  one  may 
choose  as  adapted  to  the  character  of  one's  class 
and  one's  own  ability,  there  will  always  remain 
necessary  a  certain  adaptation  of  method  to  the 
subject  taught.  Thus  there  will  arise  the  query 
as  to  how  best  to  teach  the  chief  elements  of 
biblical  study,  geography,  history,  prophecy, 
poetry,  and  epistle. 
I.  The  study  I.   The  teackiiig  of  bibUcal geography . — Soover- 

^eJ^^rl^h"^^^  laid  have  all  scriptural  matters  become  with 
various  strata  of  theology  and  religious  com- 
ment that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  most  read- 
ers of  the  Bible  to  set  matters  in  their  actual 
connections.  Especially  true  is  it  that  few  per- 
sons are  in  the  habit  of  studying  the  Bible  with 
any  thought  of  its  geographical  relations. 
Allegorical  The  causc  is  evident.     In   a  way  that  finds 

almost  no  parallel  except  the  Sacred  Moun- 
tain of  the  Japanese,  the  physical  characteristics 
of  Palestine  have  worked  their  way  into  the 
vocabulary  of  Christian  experience.  We  should 
expect  that  the  recollection  of  the  role  which 
their  rivers  and  their  mountains  and  valleys  had 

60 


modern 
phenomenon 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  6i 

played  in  their  history  would  have  made  them  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Hebrew  poets  the  veritable  rep- 
resentative and  symbol  of  the  experiences  them- 
selves. And  since  all  of  these  experiences  were 
traced  back  directly  to  Jehovah,  it  would  be 
easy  to  see  how,  when  the  mountains  and  the 
hills  and  the  valleys  were  substituted  for  the 
experiences,  they  might  at  the  same  time  come 
to  stand  for  Jehovah's  dealings  with  his  people. 
Yet,  singularly  enough,  this  is  by  no  means  This  a 
as  common  in  the  Old  Testament  itself  as  in 
Christian  literature.  The  people  who  lived  by 
the  side  of  the  Jordan  saw  in  it  a  very  real 
boundary  between  very  real  fields.  The  religious 
poet  of  today,  forgetting  the  fact  that  the  Jordan 
is  a  stream  with  a  traceable  bed  and  a  geologi- 
cal history,  thinks  of  it  only  as  a  symbol  of  that 
river  of  death  through  which  one  must  pass 
to  reach  a  heavenly  Promised  Land.  The  same 
thing  is  true  of  Zion.  By  a  sort  of  allegorizing 
process,  that  oriental  town,  whose  splendors  at 
their  best  must  have  been  small  compared  with 
those  of  many  a  modern  city,  but  which  was  the 
stronghold  of  Jehovah's  people,  has  come  to 
mean  the  heaven  above  and  all  that  is  religious 
here  on  earth  ;  while  the  desert  has  become  sin ; 
the  Hivites,  the  Perrizites,  and  the  Jebusites, 
temptations  which  the  believer  is  to  overcome ; 
and  Canaan,  eternal  salvation. 


62 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Dangers  in  Whatever  one  may  say  in  justification  of  this 

such  1       1        f  •  1        o 

allegorizing  method  of  treating  the  Scriptures,  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  call  attention  to  the  danger  to  which 
it  is  exposed  because  of  the  teacher's  intellectual 
laziness.  It  cannot  be  too  often  emphasized  that 
the  Bible  is  not  only  a  history  of  events,  but  the 
record  of  a  nation's  interpretation  of  God's  deal- 
ings with  it.  But  history  walks  upon  the  earth, 
not  upon  allegory,  and  if  one  would  understand 
the  history  of  the  Israelites  one  must  know 
the  land  in  which  the  Israelites  lived.  The 
battles  of  Deborah  and  Gideon  would  have 
been  very  different  had  they  been  fought  in 
Judea,  and  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
the  events  of  David's  early  life  to  have  occurred 
even  on  the  mountains  of  Gilboa.  The  kingdom 
of  Judah  would  have  fallen  as  soon  as  the  king- 
dom of  Israel,  if  Jerusalem  had  been  a  second 
Samaria,  and  Hellenism  might  have  stamped  out 
the  Law,  if  the  mountains  of  the  land  had  been 
without  caves. 

Political  How,  too,  is  it  possible  for  one  to  appreciate 

geography  r    i i         i  t 

and  the  New  fuUy  the  diversities  in  the  life  of  Jesus  unless  it 
Testament  j^^  remembered  that  the  several  portions  of  his 
ministry  were  spent  in  different  parts  of  the  land  ? 
Who  fully  understands  the  method  of  Jesus'  work 
in  Galilee  who  cannot  approximately  locate  the 
cities  of  the  lake  and  their  relations  with  the  sur- 
rounding country  ?     Indeed,  so  closely  is  his  life 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  63 

united  with  the  political  history  of  Palestine  that 
one  cannot  fully  understand  his  birth,  boyhood, 
success,  retreat,  arrest,  and  trial  without  knowing 
the  boundaries  and  the  political  conditions  of 
Judea  and  Galilee.  In  a  certain  sense  the  same 
is  true  of  the  brief  career,  the  arrest,  and  the 
death  of  John  the  Baptist.  In  the  case  of  Paul 
the  assistance  given  by  good  geographical  infor- 
mation is  even  more  marked.  Paul  was  a  wan- 
derer whose  methods,  and  to  some  extent  whose 
preaching,  took  on  the  color  of  the  various  civili- 
zations, and  even  cities,  in  which  he  labored.  To 
make  his  letter  to  the  Ephesians  fit  the  needs  of 
the  Galatians  would  be  as  impossible  as  to  iden- 
tify the  customs  of  Antioch  in  Pisidia  with  the 
customs  of  Ephesus.  To  say  nothing  of  the 
apologetic  value  of  the  new  light  thrown  upon 
the  accuracy  of  Luke,  it  is  no  small  exegetical 
help  that  has  already  been  derived  from  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  purely  geographical  question  as  to 
the  location  of  the  Galatian  churches  and  the 
extent  of  Galatia  as  a  province  of  the  Roman 
empire. 

It  is  imperative  that  the  teacher  accustom  his  Further  value 
class  to  the  use  of  maps.     Every  place  mentioned  "f  bM^S  ^ 
in  the   lesson   should  be   carefully  located.     If  geography 
there  are  journeys  or  battles   to   be   considered, 
have  the  pupils  notice  every  feature  likely  to  ex- 
plain them.     Let  the  distances  be  estimated  and 


64 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Physical 
geography  a 
factor  in 
Israel's 
history 


then  compared  with  those  with  which  the  pupil 
is  familiar.  As  far  as  possible  have  the  pupil 
draw  his  own  map,  indicating  on  it  such  places 
as  his  study  may  have  brought  to  his  attention. 
Help  him  to  connect  historical  events  with  locali- 
ties, and  as  far  as  possible  through  photographs 
see  that  he  gets  a  correct  idea  of  what  such 
places  resemble.  For  the  younger  pupils  it  will 
be  found  a  good  expedient  to  devote  several  les- 
sons to  an  imaginary  journey  to  Palestine.  Noth- 
ing will  better  serve  to  stimulate  their  interest  in 
the  land  or  to  help  them  realize  its  character- 
istics. 

In  fact  the  teaching  of  the  geography  of 
Palestine  may  be  made  full  of  suggestions  as 
to  the  history  and  development  of  Israel.  With 
the  aid  of  a  raised  map,  or  by  having  one's 
pupils  construct  a  model  from  sand,  the  form  and 
shape  of  the  little  land  may  be  easily  seen. 
Immediately  its  hills  and  gorges,  its  interla- 
cing watersheds,  its  few  opportunities  for  roads 
to  bind  Judea  with  Galilee,  will  give  one  a  new 
appreciation  of  the  work  of  both  prophet  and 
priest.  It  will  appear  that  the  persistence  and 
the  development  of  the  belief  in  Jehovah  as  one 
ethical  and  supreme  God  were  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  the  forces  which  nature  set  at  work  in 
a  land  where  every  hill  was  an  invitation  to 
polytheism.     And  yet   Israel,  through   the   dis- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  65 

cipline  of  prophet  and  God,  became  the  founder 
of  the  world's  great  monotheism.  So,  too,  with 
a  little  effort  the  teacher  can  show  his  class  how 
the  changing  seasons,  the  ever-returning  west 
wind,  the  rains  and  droughts,  the  stony  ground 
that  is  yet  so  fertile,  the  springs  and  water- 
courses, while  all  alike  serving  admirably  the 
poet  and  preacher,  had  a  direct  influence  in 
determining  the  character  of  the  Jew  himself. 
And  if  of  the  Jew,  then  of  Christianity. 

2.  The  teaching  of  biblical  history. — Speaking  2.  History 
generally,  narrative  material,  in  so  far  as  it  is  not  biography 
fiction,  may  be  grouped  into  two  great  classes 
— biography  and  history.  The  first  concerns 
itself  with  the  doings  of  some  person  as  a  mere 
individual ;  the  second  deals  with  the  life  of  a 
social  group  like  a  city  or  nation.  Very  fre- 
quently, however,  it  is  difficult  to  draw  this  line 
with  any  precision.  Individuals  get  their  sig- 
nificance chiefly  from  their  connection  with  some 
social  group,  and  nations  are  composed  of  and  are 
led  by  individuals.  Sometimes,  indeed,  so  inti- 
mately was  a  man's  life  joined  with  the  events  of 
his  time  that  his  biography  is  the  history  of  his 
epoch,  and  to  write  the  one  is  to  write  the  other. 
Yet,  even  in  such  cases,  biography  differs  from 
history.  It  is  more  interested  in  the  individual 
as  such,  and  will  narrate  at  length  events  which, 
though  of  no  appreciable  social  or  political  influ- 


66  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

ence,  are  of  very  great  interest  and  importance 
as  indicative  of  the  person's  characteristics. 

In  the  Bible,  except  in  the  case  of  the  gos- 
pels, it  is  all  but  impossible  to  make  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  two  sets  of  narratives.  On  the 
one  hand,  so  fixed  were  the  eyes  of  writers  upon 
the  development  of  Israel,  rather  than  of  indi- 
viduals, that,  with  the  exception  of  Jesus,  biog- 
raphy as  such  is  all  but  lacking.  Men's  lives 
and  deeds  are  described  almost  invariably  be- 
cause they  had  some  influence  upon,  or  at 
least  connection  with,  the  history  of  a  nation  or 
of  a  church.  On  the  other  hand,  history  is 
always  traced  as  it  was  made  by  heroes  or  un- 
made by  sinners.  Abraham,  Jacob,  Moses,  David, 
Ahab,  Elijah,  Nehemiah,  Jesus,  Paul — to  tell  the 
story  of  these  lives  is  to  write  the  history  of  bib- 
lical times. 
Stories  for  In  this  biographical-historical  character  of  the 

children  .  .  r      i         t-»m  i       i  •  i 

narrative  portion  of  the  Bible  lies  a  great  peda- 
gogical advantage.  By  exploiting  it  a  teacher 
may  adapt  his  instruction  to  the  maturity  or  im- 
maturity of  the  pupils  with  whom  he  may  be  called 
to  deal.  The  teacher  of  very  young  pupils  will 
find  in  the  Old  Testament  an  abundance  of  ma- 
terial which  he  may  use  as  stories.  Little  chil- 
dren require  hardly  any  other  form  of  lesson  ma- 
terial. With  them  the  effort  should  be  to  make 
such   stories  of  men  and  women  as  vivid  as  pos- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  dq 

sible,  in  total  disregard  of  everything  except  the 
dramatic  quality.  Such  stories  will  carry  their 
own  moral  lessons  quite  as  effectively  as  the 
most  approved  nursery  tales. 

With  pupils  of  the  public-school  as^e,  approxi-  Biographical 

^    ^  .  .  .?,     ,  J     •         stories  for 

mately  from  seven  to  thirteen,  it  will  be  advis-  boys  and  girls 
able  to  dwell  chiefly  upon  the  biographical  rather 
than  the  historical  element  in  the  biblical  narra- 
tive. Let  the  attention  be  centered  upon  the 
lives  of  the  heroes  of  Scripture.  If  these  are 
taught  in  the  spirit  of  the  biblical  writers  them- 
selves, nothing  is  more  instructive.  The  teacher 
not  only  has  material  that  will  readily  appeal  to 
his  young  pupils,  but  he  has  its  religious  and 
moral  values  already  expressed.  Virtues  and 
their  counterparts  are  never  so  distinct  in  the 
minds  of  children  as  when  seen  in  the  actual 
lives  of  men  and  women. 

The  real  task  for  the  teacher  in  this  connec-  Biographical 
tion,  however,  comes  when  he  has  to  deal  with  adolescents 
the  boys  and  girls  of  high-school  age.  In  their 
case  the  newly  awakened  critical  judgment,  the 
new  sense  of  social  relations,  the  irresistible  im- 
pulse to  generalize  —  in  a  word,  the  entire  new 
world  of  adolescence  —  make  demands  that  are 
not  to  be  met  by  mere  stories  or  mere  biogra- 
phy. They  not  only  require  facts,  they  wish  to 
see  the  relation  and  the  significance  of  facts. 
Quite  as  much,  also,  do  they  need  to  be  taught 


68  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

to  grasp  the  real  meaning  of  biblical  narratives, 
to  distinguish  between  a  folk-tale  of  a  bygone 
age  and  sober  history,  to  form  opinions  as  to  the 
historical  value  of  the  Bible  that  will  be  a  source 
of  confidence  rather  than  of  uncertainty  as  they 
reach  maturity.  Yet  with  these  pupils,  as  with 
the  others,  the  teacher  can  well  afford  to  ap- 
proach the  biblical  narratives  from  the  point  of 
view  of  their  authors.  If  they  are  historical, 
they  are  also  biographical. 
Suggestions  From  this  fact  comes  the  first  suggestion  for 

for  teachers :       ^  i  r     .  ^  i  i  i 

(a)  Make  tcachers  or  these  and  even  more  advanced 
heroes  central  classes ;  let  the  study  of  biblical  narratives  be 
biographical.  That  it  to  say,  the  individual 
should  be  made  the  center  of  interest,  and  the 
affairs  of  Israel  or  the  early  church  should  be 
grouped  about  leading  and  significant  men.  How 
much  help  lies  in  such  a  method  must  be  at  once 
evident.  Boys  and  girls  even  of  the  high-school 
age  have  not  the  interest  in  social  forces  and 
laws  which  their  elders  possess.  They  want  he- 
roes, not  philosophy.  And  heroes  the  Bible 
gives  in  profusion.  The  deeds  of  Gideon  and 
David,  of  Jesus  and  Paul,  if  only  they  are  taught 
without  undue  moralizing  or  exhortation,  can 
never  fail  to  interest  the  young.  In  their  daily 
lessons  in  their  schools  they  learn  to  admire  the 
great  men  of  their  own  and  other  lands,  but 
where  in  all   history  are  there   more   dramatic, 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  69 

more  human,  more  inspiring  characters  than  one 
finds  described  with  marvelous  literary  skill  in  the 
Bible  ?  There  are  few  teachers  who  will  not  tes- 
tify to  the  relief  with  which  they  welcome  lessons 
dealing  with  the  men  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to 
the  unaccustomed  zest  with  which  a  restless  class 
of  boys  or  a  politely  indifferent  class  of  girls  lis- 
tens to  and  even  studies  stories  like  those  of 
Joseph  and  Ruth. 

A  second  suggestion  also  comes  from  the  bib-  (^)  Let 
lical  material :  Study  these  biographies  as  illus-  niustrate 
trating  or  embodying  the  important  social  char-  ^^^^  ^"^^ 
acteristics  of  a  period.      This  is  precisely  why 
these  persons  appear  on  the  pages  of  the  Bible ; 
so  to  use  them  is  but  to  follow  the  plan  of  the 
biblical  writer.     To  show  the  truth  of  this  it  is 
not  necessary  to  recall  those  long  genealogical 
chapters  of  Genesis  where  tribes  appear  in  the 
guise  of  individuals:  any  Old  Testament  charac- 
ter may  serve  as  example.     How  can  one  study 
the  different  periods  of  David's  life  without  see- 
ing that  each  is  the  result  of  some  condition  of 
the  Hebrew  people  ?     So,  too,  in  the  case  of  Paul 
how    can    one    trace  his    career   without    seeing 
clearly  the  changing  situations  in  apostolic  Chris- 
tianity ?     If  one  wishes  to  help  a  class  of  boys 
and  girls  to  realize  how  all  history  is  a  record 
of    the    struggle    of    opposing    tendencies    and 
ideals  how  better  can  it  be  done  than  by  putting 


JO  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

over  against  each  other  the  lives  of  Elijah  and 
Ahab?  Is  not  the  teacher  in  the  public  school 
doing  precisely  the  same  when  he  helps  his  pu- 
pils understand  the  history  of  England  by  inter- 
esting them  in  English  sovereigns? 
The  value  of  To  make  such  comparisons  real,  the  teacher 
arc  aeoogy  should  use  the  fascinating  results  of  archaeology. 
The  libraries  of  Babylon,  the  correspondence  of 
Tell  Amarna,  the  colonnades  of  the  Decapolis, 
the  temples  of  innumerable  cities,  the  tombs  of 
Egypt,  the  long-buried,  superimposed  cities  of 
Palestine  and  Asia  Minor,  are  treasure-houses 
for  almost  any  period  of  biblical  history  one  may 
study ;  and  now  that  they  are  all  so  readily  avail- 
able through  literature  and  photographs,  to  neg- 
lect them  is  as  inexcusable  as  it  is  impolitic. 

Indeed,  the  well-trained  teacher  may  even 
venture  farther  with  an  exceptionally  bright  class. 
The  slow  development  of  nomadic  clans  into  a 
nation  can  be  no  better  illustrated  by  recourse 
to  the  German  tribes  as  they  overran  Gaul  and 
Italy  than  to  the  Hebrew  tribes  as  they  overran 
Palestine  and  slowly  felt  their  way  through  the 
dark  ages  of  the  Judges  into  the  short-lived 
national  unity  under  David  and  Solomon.  In 
the  case  of  each  people  the  different  political  or 
economic  stages  are  to  be  studied  through  the 
adventures  of  some  representative  man  or  woman. 
Once   let   the  ambitious   Sunday-school   teacher 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  71 

experiment  with  this  method  of  teaching  biblical 
history,  and  he  will  be  surprised  at  the  results 
both  in  his  class  and  in  himself. 

And   this  suggests  a  third  direction  :     As  far  (c)  Compare 
as   possible  teach  biblical  history  comparatively,  ^j^h  the 
That  is,  endeavor  to  find  parallels  between  it  and  f»»story  studied 

*■  m  schools 

the  history  the  members  of  one's  class  may  be 
studying  in  the  high  school.  So  well  arranged 
have  the  curricula  of  most  such  schools  become 
that  it  is  seldom  that  their  pupils  are  not 
concerned  with  Rome  or  Greece,  England  or 
America.  As  has  already  been  implied,  parallels 
between  the  Hebrew  history  and  that  of  other 
nations  are  always  easy  to  discover,  and  to  dis- 
cuss them,  to  bring  bright  pupils  to  argue  over 
them,  is  one  of  the  easiest  and  most  fruitful  of 
methods.  Ask,  for  instance,  a  class  whose  mem- 
bers are  deep  in  Roman  history  to  compare  the 
story  of  Romulus  and  the  founding  of  Rome 
with  the  Genesis  account  of  Abraham  and  the 
founding  of  the  Hebrew  nation.  A  little  pre- 
paratory analysis  of  the  two  matters  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher  will  lead  to  a  series  of  questions 
that  will  not  only  test  the  pupils'  knowledge  of 
the  facts  involved,  but  will  stimulate  his  judg- 
ment and  imagination,  and  thus  become  of  gen- 
uine pedagogical  value.  Similarly,  pupils  who 
during  the  week  are  studying  American  history 
may  be  led  to  compare  the   French  and  Indian 


72 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


{d)  Show  that 
literature 
springs  from 
historical 
conditions 


Wars  with  the  struggle  of  the  Israelites  with 
the  Philistines,  and  the  Revolution  with  the  revolt 
of  Rhehoboam.  For  more  advanced  pupils  a 
most  illuminating  comparison  is  that  of  thegrowth 
of  the  messianic  idea  with  that  of  the  doctrine 
of  rights  in  France  during  the  eighteenth  century. 
Other  comparisonswill  readily  suggest  themselves 
to  any  teacher  who  has  even  a  moderate  amount 
of  historical  insight  and  pedagogical  aptitude. 

A  fourth  suggestion  is  this  :  Show  how  the 
spirit  of  an  age  always  expresses  itself  in  the 
literature  of  the  age.  Here  again  the  compara- 
tive method  may  be  used  to  advantage  with 
classes  studying  English  literature  in  the  public 
schools.  The  teacher  should  endeavor  to  appre- 
ciate and  get  his  pupils  to  appreciate  the  fact 
that  war  and  bloodshed  no  more  constitute  the 
entirety  of  Hebrew  than  of  English  history,  and 
that,  in  one  as  in  the  other,  literature  is  but  one 
form  taken  by  the  spirit  that  lay  back  of  and  in 
no  small  way  accounted  for  the  course  of  outer 
events.  It  is  from  this  point,  indeed,  that  one 
may  well  teach  the  pupil  to  approach  the  Bible 
itself;  for  it  is,  so  to  speak,  the  literary  residu- 
um of  the  best  spirit  of  the  Hebrew  people. 
To  see  it  thus  through  the  medium  of  the  differ- 
ent periods  in  which  it  was  written  is  not  only  to 
move  toward  a  better  understanding  of  its  teach- 
ing; it  is  also  to  come  to  an  appreciation  of  its 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  73 

real  character  as  the  record  and  the  product  of  a 
progressive  revelation  of  the  divine  will  through 
human  life.  And  this,  as  has  already  been 
urged,  is  an  indispensable  prerequisite  of  all 
proper  biblical  teaching. 

A  fifth  suggestion    applies  especially  to  the  W  Teach 
more  advanced  classes,  and  can  be  fully  adopted  consciousness 
only  with  pupils  who  have  pursued  their  biblical  ^^^  ^""^"^^ 

J  i-      I  I  sweep  or 

study  according  to  an  intelligently  constructed  biblical 
curriculum,  or  who  have  been  otherwise  excep-  ^^^^^ 
tionally  well  trained.  Under  such  exceptional 
circumstances,  however,  it  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance to  trace  the  onward  movement  and 
broad  sweep  of  events  in  the  light  of  which  the 
larger  connections  and  larger  meanings  of  bibli- 
cal history  may  be  discerned.  The  deepest  sig- 
nificance of  Israel's  history  is  perceived  only 
when  in  the  century-long  sweep  of  that  history  one 
discerns  the  outlines  of  that  educational  process 
by  which  the  people  rose  to  those  nobler  ideals  of 
God  and  the  higher  standard  of  morality  which 
made  them  unique  among  the  nations.  The  in- 
tense career  of  Jesus  —  so  brief  as  compared  with 
the  centuries  of  Israelitish  history,  so  significant 
as  giving  to  that  history  its  deepest  significance  — 
is  adequately  understood  only  as  it  is  seen  in  its 
entirety.  The  Apostolic  Age  loses  most  of  its 
value  for  us  when  we  take  a  mere  atomistic  view 
of  its    successive    events.     And    he  has  still  to 


74  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

reach  the  highest  achievement  of  the  historical 
study  of  the  Bible  who  has  not  seen  in  all  these  — 
the  history  of  Israel,  the  life  of  the  Christ,  the 
birth  and  infancy  of  the  Christian  community — 
in  one  broad  view,  a  vision  of  the  gradual  self- 
revelation  of  God  to  men  and  of  the  divine  educa- 
tion of  men  to  live  according  to  divine  ideals.  Ob- 
viously this  suggestion  cannot  be  applied  to  the 
teaching  of  individual  lessons.  Not  less  surely 
will  he  fail  really  to  adopt  it  who  with  dim  and 
hazy  ideas  of  the  biblical  history  substitutes 
eloquence  for  solid  instruction.  But  the  teach- 
ing of  biblical  history  can  never  be  wholly 
what  it  should  be,  even  for  the  Sunday  school, 
till  by  aid  of  a  properly  constructed  curriculum 
and  adequate  text-books  it  can  culminate  in  some 
such  broad  view  as  we  have  endeavored  to  de- 
scribe. Meantime  the  teacher  who  can  get  some- 
thing of  this  view  for  himself  may  now  and  then 
give  to  his  pupils  also  an  inspiring  and  uplifting 
glimpse  of  it. 
3-  The  3.  The  teaching  of  prophecy.  —  Growing  directly 

prophecy  o^t  of  this  mcthod  of  teaching  the  history  of  the 
Bible  is  that  of  teaching  the  prophecies.  They 
too  must  be  approached  from  the  historical  side. 
Men  like  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  were  not  interested 
in  events  that  were  to  happen  thousands  of  years 
after  their  death ;  they  were  foretelling  to  men  of 
their  own  time  the  certain  outcome  of  national 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  75 

sins  and  virtues,  of  certain  punishments  and  Prophecy 
rewards,  of  Jehovah's  love  and  justice.  To  b  history 
disassociate  their  work  from  the  political  situa- 
tions in  which  they  lived  is  utterly  to  misunder- 
stand them.  Accordingly,  if  one  is  to  teach  the 
prophecies,  two  fundamental  rules  must  be  ob- 
served. 

In  the  first  place,  the  teacher  must   realize.  Therefore, 

1    1      1        1  •  -1       .  1-  1-      •         1  (a)  Appreciate 

and  help  his  pupils  to  realize,  as   distinctly    as  the  historical 
possible,  the  historical  circumstances  in  which  a  circumstances 

*■  from  which 

prophet  spoke.  Especially  must  the  interna-  a  prophecy 
tional  relations  of  Israel  with  its  neighbors  be  ^^^^^ 
emphasized,  particularly  with  Assyria  and  Egypt. 
The  prophets  spoke  less  to  individuals  than  to 
nations,  and  many  of  their  addresses  are  unin- 
telligible except  as  this  is  recognized  by  the  in- 
terpreter. To  present  this  one  fact  is  likely  to 
arouse  interest,  and  this  may  be  deepened  by 
leading  the  pupils  to  attempt  a  comparison  of 
these  Hebrew  preachers  with  their  modern  repre- 
sentatives, ministers,  social  reformers,  and  politi- 
cal leaders.  A  careful  balancing  of  similarities 
and  differences  between  the  ancient  world  and 
the  modern,  the  biblical  prophet  and  the  modern 
preacher,  will  go  far  to  assist  one's  pupils  to 
understand  the  function  and  dignity  of  both. 
Possibly  there  may  come  also  a  new  appreciation 
of  the  difficulties  under  which  religious  teachers 
of  all  ages  have  been  forced  to  labor. 


76  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

(b)  Show  the  Jn  the  second  place,  the  pupils  should  be 
^e^prophet°  taught  to  see  how  far  in  advance  of  the  times  in 
to  their  times  v^^hich  he  Hved  Were  the  words  of  the  prophet. 
Nor  will  this  be  difficult  when  once  he  has  real- 
ized the  historical  element  in  prophecy.  The 
unfaithfulness  of  Israel  to  Jehovah,  the  national 
degeneracy,  the  incursion  of  heathen  customs 
and  ideals,  the  low  morality  of  king  and  people 
as  it  appears  in  the  prophetic  denunciation  and 
description — these  and  other  elements  which  a 
truly  historical  study  will  reveal  combine  to  em- 
phasize the  philosophy  of  suffering,  the  pictures 
of  a  forgiving  God,  the  hope  of  a  brighter  day, 
and  the  certainty  of  a  deliverer  with  which 
the  prophecies  abound.  As  this  aspect  of  the 
prophet's  work  grows  distinct,  it  gains  a  new  sig- 
nificance. It  ceases  to  be  enigmatic  foretell- 
ing and  becomes  full  of  permanent  moral  teach- 
ing. Its  forecast  of  the  future,  so  different 
from  the  career  of  historic  Israel,  carries  one's 
mind  over  to  some  better  lesson  than  mechanical 
"fulfilment"  and  shows  with  new  distinctness 
how  the  life  of  Jesus  meets  prophetic  ideals 
otherwise  unsatisfied.  Thus  the  actual  work  and 
significance  of  the  prophet  are  understood,  and 
his  words  are  made  modern  by  first  being  seen 
to  be  ancient.  If,  with  advanced  classes,  this 
study  be  carried  one  step  farther,  and  the  effect 
of  the  prophetic  impulse  be  traced  in   the  legis- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  ^^ 

lation  of  the  later  codes  and  the  new  kingdom 
that  sprang  up  after  the  Return,  the  teacher  will 
have  the  richest  sort  of  material  for  illustrating 
the  possibility  of  religion's  influencing  legislation 
and  national  ideals  through  the  faith  and  self- 
sacrificing  morality  of  individuals. 

4.   The  teaching  of  biblical  poetry, —  Naturally  4-  The 

1  1         •       1  Ml     I         1    •  1    1  1  1     teaching  of 

the  emphasis  here  will  be  laid  less  upon  broad  biblical  poetry 
historical  situations — although,  whenever  discov- 
erable, they  are  by  no  means  to  be  disregarded — 
than  upon  purely  literary  characteristics.  Above 
all  is  it  necessary  to  impress  upon  the  pupil  the 
fact  that  the  poetry  of  the  Bible,  just  as  truly 
as  that  of  any  literature,  has  a  real  poetical 
form.  In  our  English  translations  this  form  Poetical  form 
is  too  frequently  obscured,  but  it  is  none  the  less 
present,  and  when  once  observed  is  not  likely 
again  to  be  overlooked.  The  absence  of  rhyme 
and — at  least  in  the  English  version — rhythm 
cannot  prevent  the  pupil's  being  shown  the  paral- 
lelism of  thought,  the  balancing  of  opposing 
conceptions,  the  oftentimes  elaborate  structure  of 
the  Psalms,  or  the  balanced  sentences  of  the 
Proverbs  and  other  literature  dealing  with  wis- 
dom. Nor  is  it  difficult  to  induce  a  class  to  see 
that  all  Hebrew  literature  is  full  of  imagery  often 
bold  and  always  beautiful  ;  and  when  once  this 
point  of  vantage  is  gained,  the  teaching  of  the 
poetical  portions  of  the  Bible  is  made  both  easy 
and  fascinating. 


78 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Restore 
this  form 


The  study  of 
apocalypses 


It  follows  that  the  teacher  will  first  of  all  set 
his  class  at  restoring  the  lost  literary  form.  This 
may  be  done  in  the  way  of  preparing  the  lesson, 
or  even  in  the  class.  When  this  has  been  done, 
he  will  ask  for  interpretations  of  the  literary 
figures  in  which  the  thought  is  cast.  If  possible, 
he  will  endeavor  to  point  out  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  psalm  was  written  or  used.  If  it 
is  a  bit  of  wisdom,  and  especially  if  it  is  a  saying 
of  Jesus — for  much  of  his  teaching  is  in  poetic 
form  in  the  Hebrew  sense — he  will  have  his  class 
formulate  in  literal  terms  the  teaching  they  have 
discovered  under  the  poetic  form. 

The  importance  of  this  method  will  appear  in 
strong  light,  should  the  teacher  be  forced  to  in- 
troduce his  class  into  any  of  the  apocalyptic  por- 
tions of  the  Bible.  Here  it  is,  if  possible,  even 
more  imperative  than  in  the  case  of  the  Psalms, 
Proverbs,  and  Parables  for  class  and  teacher  to 
realize  that  they  are  dealing  with  a  literary  form 
closely  allied  to  poetry.  In  apocalyptic  compo- 
sition practically  nothing  is  intended  to  be  inter- 
preted literally.  The  various  creatures  are  sym- 
bols, the  action  is  symbolical,  places  and  persons 
are  symbolical.  To  interpret  such  material 
requires  something  more  than  exegetical  inge- 
nuity ;  one  must  know  the  literary  form  itself,  its 
method  of  teaching,  the  historical  situation  it 
seeks  to  portray,  and  the  sort  of  deliverance  it 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  79 

promises.  Altogether,  the  task  is  too  great  to  lay 
upon  the  teacher  of  an  average  class  of  boys  and 
girls.  Yet  if  it  is  so  laid,  one  rule  may  be  re- 
garded as  inviolable  :  apocalyptic  like  all  figura- 
tive material  is  not  interpreted  as  long  as  any 
vestige  of  the  original  symbolizing  descriptions 
is  left.  To  interpret  figurative  teaching  involves 
the  utter  destruction  of  the  figures. 

Yet  it  would  be  a  grievous  mistake  if  the  study  the 
teacher  should  look  at  biblical  poetry  simply  ^e"'°  ^ 
from  the  point  of  view  of  literary  form.  Nothing 
could  be  more  deadening.  Poetry  above  all 
forms  of  literature  is  expressive  of  life.  To  under- 
stand it  one  must  look  out  on  life  with  its  author, 
one  must  sympathize  with  his  feelings,  one  must 
look  through  his  words  into  his  heart  and  experi- 
ence. The  student  of  biblical  poetry  needs  this 
spiritual  sympathy.  If  ever  a  literature  was  not 
dilettante  it  is  the  Hebrew.  Even  Lamenta- 
tions, despite  its  highly  conventionalized  form, 
rings  true.  The  Hebrew  psalm  is  as  sincere  as  it 
is  elevated.  The  teacher,  accordingly,  must  seek 
to  recover  the  biographical  history,  the  ''psy- 
chological moment  "  of  the  poetry  he  is  bringing 
to  his  class.  Generally  this  may  be  found  in  the 
poetry  itself;  sometimes  in  a  definite  historical 
circumstance.  But  always  must  the  teacher  en- 
deavor to  make  his  class  realize  the  state  of  heart 
from  which  the  poem   sprang.     There,  if   any- 


8o  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

where,  will  be  the  true  entrance  to  its  teaching 
and  the  point  of  contact  between  the  man  of  the 
past  and  the  boy  or  girl  of  the  present. 
5-  Tjie  ^_   The  teaching  of  epistles. — We  have  already 

epistles  made  a  number  of  suggestions  which  may  show 

how  a  teacher  can  study  this  element  of  the 
Bible,  and  it  is  necessary  now  only  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  here  again  he  must  recog- 
nize the  need  of  leading  his  class  to  appreciate 
the  situation  from  which  the  New  Testament 
epistles  sprang  as  actual  letters  from  one  person 
to  another  person  or  to  a  group  of  persons.  In 
several  cases,  of  course,  it  is  all  but  impossible  to 
reach  specific  and  final  conclusions  in  such  mat- 
ters, but  the  epistles  of  which  this  is  true  may 
well  be  reserved  for  very  advanced  classes.  In 
the  case  of  the  Pauline  literature  it  is  possible 
to  construct  the  historical  situation  with  fulness 
and  accuracy  and,  as  has  already  been  indicated, 
often  from  a  study  of  the  epistle  itself.  As  a 
general  principle  of  study,  these  epistles  ought 
to  be  treated  in  connection  with  the  life  of  Paul, 
but,  as  this  is  very  often  impracticable,  it  will  be 
the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  show  what  material  in 
Acts  supplements  the  testimony  of  the  letter 
itself  to  its  occasion  and  purpose,  and  throws 
especial  light  on  the  epistle  or  portion  of  an  epistle 
under  consideration.  At  all  costs  the  pupil  should 
be  made  to  see  that  the  epistles,  as  far  as  the  pur- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  8i 

pose  of  their  authors  was  concerned,  were  writ-  The  rea/ 

r     1         1        •       1  1        purpose  of 

ten,  not  to  serve  as  systems  or  theological  teach-  the  epistles 
ing  for  endless  ages,  but  to  meet  certain  definite 
needs  of  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  sent, 
and  that  the  whole  question  of  their  relation  to 
modern  life  must  be  answered  through  a  recog- 
nition of  their  purpose.  It  is  a  great  step  toward 
the  proper  use  of  the  New  Testament  for  practi- 
cal religious  purposes  when  one  comes  to  realize 
that  many  of  the  apostolic  directions  for  Christian 
conduct  were  adapted  primarily  and  exclusively 
to  Christians  living  in  Graeco- Roman  cities  nearly 
two  thousand  years  ago.  But  it  is  idle  to  hope 
to  appreciate  accurately  this  element  in  the  apos- 
tolic literature  until  one  appreciates  the  actual 
historical  environment  in  which  it  arose. 

To    some    persons    it    may    seem    that    this  a  possible 
methodical    study    of    the    Scriptures  will  work  js  this 
as^ainst  the   fundamentally  relis^ious  purpose   of  "^f.'^^'^, 

'-'  J  o  L        i^  religiously 

the  Sunday  school.  For  such  apprehensions  we  effective? 
have  the  deepest  sympathy.  It  would  be  a  most 
disastrous  change  if  the  Sunday  school  should 
become  a  mere  school  of  archaeology  or  of  peda- 
gogical method.  To  those  who  feel  these  appre- 
hensions it  is  to  be  answered,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  methods  of  teaching  which  we  have  been 
describing  in  this  chapter  are  not  guaranteed  in 
and  of  themselves  to  make  the  teacher  in  the 


82  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

fullest  sense  successful.  These  methods  pertain 
to  the  intellectual  side  of  his  work.  But  the 
teacher  must  be  something  more  than  intellectual- 
ly acute,  or  in  a  narrow  sense  pedagogically  skil- 
ful. It  would  be  quite  possible  to  teach  the 
Bible  with  great  acuteness  and  with  a  high  degree 
of  skill  of  a  certain  sort  without  making  it  reli- 
giously effective.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we 
speak  at  length  in  another  chapter  of  the  ways  in 
which  a  teacher  can  render  his  work  religiously 
effective. 
The  Sunday  gu^^  dismissing  that  side  of  the  matter  for  the 

school  must  ...  1-1 

be  educational  momcut,  it  IS  also  to  bc  Said,  as  we  have  main- 
tained at  the  outset,  that  the  Sunday  school,  as  an 
educational  institution  controlled  by  a  distinctly 
religious  purpose,  must  and  will  achieve  its  high- 
est religious  purpose  by  being  true  to  its  educa- 
tional as  well  as  to  its  religious  ideals.  You 
cannot  make  the  Sunday  school  more  effective 
religiously  by  leaving  it  inefficient  educationally. 
The  educational  and  religious  phases  of  the  school 
are  not  rivals,  but  respectively  means  and  end. 
To  strengthen  the  means  is,  other  things  being 
equal,  to  promote  the  end.  Granting  that  the 
methods  which  we  have  been  advocating  are  good 
methods  pedagogically,  the  question  reduces 
itself  to  this :  Will  better  instruction  prove  less 
effective  religiously  than  poor  instruction? 

Now,  on  this  question  we  are  not  forced  to 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  83 

rely  wholly  on  a  priori  consideration.     We  have  Experience 

,     .  f  .  1   •    1      i        i_  has  shown 

some   data  of  experience   on  which  to   base  an  ^j^^  religious 
opinion.      There    are    in    every    Sunday    school  efficiency 

^  "^  of  good 

teachers  who  not  only  exert  a  strong  personal  teaching 
influence  over  their  pupils,  but  who  conscientious- 
ly study  their  lessons  and  induce  the  members  of 
their  classes  to  do  the  same.  They  are  interested 
in  the  great  truths  of  revelation,  but  they  are  also 
interested  in  the  Bible  as  a  channel  of  such  reve- 
lation. Their  interest  begets  interest,  and  their 
classes  acquire  biblical  knowledge  as  well  as 
religious  inspiration.  Would  any  person  acquaint- 
ed with  the  work  of  such  teachers  question  that 
its  results  are  more  permanent  than  any  other 
sort  of  teaching?  Or  affirm  that  the  pupils  thus 
instructed  are  with  anymore  difficulty  brought  to 
a  decision  to  lead  religious  lives,  or  are  any  more 
prone  to  indifference? 

And  then,  too,  there  is  the  steadily  increasing 
number  of  Sunday  schools  in  which  a  serious 
effort  is  being  made  to  bring  biblical  instruction 
to  the  level,  pedagogically  speaking,  of  the  day 
school — schools  that  grade,  examine,  actually 
teach  their  pupils.  If  the  testimony  that  reaches 
us  from  such  schools  means  anything,  it  is  that 
throughout  the  entire  body  of  pupils  there  is  a 
deepening  religious  interest  as  well  as  a  more 
thorough  mastering  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole  rather 
than  of  some  particular  text. 


84 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Are  we 

afraid  that 
the  Bible  is 
religiously 
ineffective  ? 


Why  fear  to 
use  good 
methods  ? 


Does  not  a  doubt  of  the  advisability  of  better 
study  and  teaching  of  the  Bible  in  reality  approach 
a  suspicion  of  the  power  of  truth  ?  May  it  not 
be  that,  if  young  minds  were  less  entertained, 
less  exhorted,  less  filled  with  stories,  more  in- 
structed in  the  contents  and  meaning  of  the  Bible, 
they  would  be  more  ready  to  appreciate  the  pro- 
gressive revelation  whose  record  is  so  clear  in  the 
Scriptures?  We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  insti- 
tutionalizing of  the  Sunday  school ;  on  the  con- 
trary, every  attempt  to  awaken  esprit  de  corps 
appears  to  us  most  advisable.  But  all  this  must 
subserve  instruction.  It  should  never  be  made 
an  end  in  itself.  Unless  one  has  a  supreme  con- 
fidence in  the  power  of  divine  truth  to  accomplish 
its  mission,  it  is  idle  to  attempt  to  teach.  But  if 
one  has  such  confidence,  and  if  teaching  is  really 
worth  while,  why  not  teach  in  the  right  way,  and 
why  not  organize  a  school  in  ways  which  experi- 
ence has  shown  makes  teaching  the  more  effect- 
ive ? 

If  the  Bible  is  what  we  all  believe  it  to  be, 
there  can  be  no  danger  in  attempting  to  induce 
young  minds  actually  to  study  its  truths.  If 
pedagogy  is  worth  anything,  it  is  uneconomical 
not  to  employ  its  conclusions  and  methods  in 
such  instruction.  If  religious  truth  has  any  power, 
there  is  no  need  to  fear  lest,  if  it  be  properly 
taught  and  properly  studied,  it  will  lose  any  of 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  85 

its  capacity  to  bring  boys  and  girls  to  a  decision 
to  stand  for  it  and  the  God  who  gave  it. 

Why  be  apprehensive  lest  a  good  tree  should 
bring  forth  bad  fruit  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HOW  TO    INDUCE  A  PUPIL  TO  STUDY. 

The  problem  Next  to  that  of  his  own  preparation,  perhaps  as 
Sunday"schooi  difficult  a  problem  as  any  that  confronts  the  am- 
pupiis  to  study  bitious  teacher  in  the  Sunday  school  is  that  of 
inducing  his  class  to  study  the  lesson  out  of 
school.  And  by  study  such  a  teacher  means 
something  more  than  the  memorizing  of  verses 
of  the  Bible,  or  the  acquiring  of  such  a  superficial 
knowledge  of  the  general  scope  of  biblical  teach- 
ing as  will  enable  the  pupil  to  answer  extempo- 
raneously general  questions  as  to  morals  and  duty. 
Far  less  does  a  genuine  teacher  consider  his 
work  in  a  class  successful  when  he  has  succeeded 
in  keeping  members  within  the  bounds  of  reason- 
able order  during  a  half-hour.  One  great  need 
of  Sunday  schools  today  is  such  a  method  as  will 
induce  the  pupils  to  apply  themselves  to  the 
preparation  of  the  lesson  during  the  week — to 
work  as  faithfully  over  Josiah  as  they  work  over 
Washington. 
Elements  of  The  number  of  difficulties  which  here  confront 

Sundayihooi  ^^^  tcachcr  of  a  class  of  half-grown  boys  or  girls 
classes  jg  large.     On  the  one  side  are  the  pupils,  full  of 

life,  not  especially  appreciative  of  the  importance 

86 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  87 

of  religious  instruction,  with  their  thoughts  filled 
with  the  events  of  the  past  week,  uneasy,  criti- 
cal, and  with  minds  most  contradictorily  acute  and 
indifferent.  On  the  other  hand  is  the  teacher, 
possessed  of  little  or  no  authority,  most  prob- 
ably with  no  special  training  for  the  task  of 
teaching,  not  possessed,  generally,  of  any  very 
distinct  idea  as  to  what  the  office  of  teacher  im- 
plies, but  determined  to  maintain  a  reasonable 
amount  of  order,  and,  if  possible,  bring  each 
member  of  the  class  to  Christ.  A  third  element 
is  that  of  the  lesson  itself.  Too  often  it  is  alto- 
gether unfitted  for  teaching  purposes.  Either 
the  matter  is  too  abstract,  or  it  is  too  simple.  An 
anecdote  from  the  Old  Testament,  a  few  verses 
of  a  prophecy  or  of  an  epistle,  taken  out  from 
its  context  and  used  as  a  basis  of  moral  exhor- 
tation, are  poor  material  from  which  to  derive 
interest  or  wisdom. 

These  three  elements  in  combination  go  far  to  ignorance  of 
account  for  the  lamentable  fact  that,  notwith-  ^^  ^'^^^ 
standing  years  of  instruction  in  a  Sunday  school, 
the  rank  and  file  of  Christians,  even  of  intelligent 
Christians,  have  no  knowledge  of  the  Bible  wor- 
thy of  the  name,  but  in  its  place  a  mixture  of 
confused  information,  ethical  platitudes,  good 
resolutions,  and  dense  ignorance  as  to  the  actual 
teaching  of  prophets,  apostles,  and  Christ. 

But  without  just  now  discussing  the  quality  of 


88  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

teachers  or  the  proper  curriculum,  let  us  assume 
that  each  is  satisfactory;  there  is  still  left  the 
very  important  question  how  actually  to  teach 
a  class  in  the  Sunday  school  itself. 

As  regards  this  it  should  be  said,  first,  that  if 
any  genuine  teaching  is  to  be  done  the  period  of 
teaching  must  be  lengthened.  The  Sunday-school 
session  of  one  hour,  in  which  twenty  minutes  is 
given  to  opening  exercises,  twenty  minutes  to  the 
lesson,  and  twenty  minutes  to  closing  addresses 
and  songs,  is  almost  useless  for  the  study  of 
the  Bible.  Ideally,  a  half-day  is  best,  but,  as 
things  are,  probably  impracticable.  Half  an 
hour  is  the  least  time  that  should  be  given  to 
the  study  of  the  lesson,  and  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  or  an  hour  is  better.  It  is  easy  to  feel  the 
objection  to  this  lengthening  of  the  period.  The 
teacher  asks  in  despair:  "What  shall  I  do  with 
my  uneasy  pupils  during  so  long  a  time?"  It 
would  probably  voice  the  feelings  of  many  a 
teacher  to  say  that  one  of  the  most  welcome 
sounds  of  the  Sunday-school  session  is  the  bell 
which  marks  the  closing  of  the  teaching  period. 
But  in  fact  the  matter  reduces  itself  to  this  alter- 
native :  Will  or  will  not  the  teacher  teach  ?  If 
he  is  simply  to  amuse  his  class  and  administer 
such  good  advice,  or  make  such  exhortations,  as 
the  order  of  the  class  permits,  twenty  minutes  is 
too  long.     He  had  better  not  teach  at  all.     If 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  89 

he  is  really  to  teach,  twenty  minutes  is  too  short 
a  time. 

But  dismissing  the  case  of  the  teacher  who 
cannot  teach,  let  us  assume  that  the  teacher  him- 
self knows  how  to  study,  and  has  studied,  and 
intends  to  teach  his  class  to  study.  Let  us 
further  assume  for  example's  sake  that  the  class 
is  composed  of  boys  and  girls  of  high-school 
age  or  a  trifle  younger.  How  shall  such  a  teacher 
induce  such  pupils  to  study  ? 

In  some  cases  it  is  probably  possible  to  appeal  Appeal  can 
to  a  sense  of  duty  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  Here,  madrtTduty 
of  course,  the  personal  equation  is  very  large. 
Some  teachers  have  the  power  more  easily  than 
others  to  reach  the  conscience  of  their  pupils. 
On  the  other  hand,  some  pupils  are  more  con- 
scientious than  others  in  their  undertaking  of 
tasks  assigned  them  in  the  Sunday  school.  There 
is  undoubtedly  a  moral  discipline  in  arousing  the 
pupil's  sense  of  duty,  but  it  is  to  be  admitted  that 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  responsibility  sits 
very  light  upon  a  member  of  a  Sunday-school 
class,  and  even  the  sight  of  a  teacher's  careful 
preparation  too  often  does  little  more  than  arouse 
the  pupil's  admiration. 

In  this  connection  there  is  suggested  the  one  But  seldom 
method    which,    primarily    at    least,    has    been  '°  ^" 
efficient  in  the  public  schools;  that  is,  the  inflic- 
tion of  some  sort  of  punishment  for  a  failure  to 


90  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

prepare  one's  lesson  properly.  In  rare  cases, 
probably,  punishment  or  penalty  might  be  efficient, 
but  the  ties  which  hold  a  boy  or  girl  to  a  Sunday 
school  are  so  voluntary  and  weak,  as  compared 
with  the  compulsion  which  keeps  pupils  in  the 
public  school,  that  any  large  or  general  appeal  to 
fear  is  likely  to  drive  the  pupil  from  the  class 
altogether.  Above  all,  scolding  is  the  most  suc- 
cessful means  yet  invented  of  depopulating  a 
Sunday-school  class. 
Interest  must  But  howcvcr  much  may  be  done  by  appeal  to 

butTn  whaT?  duty,  however  little  by  penalty  or  scolding, 
the  fundamental  effort  of  the  teacher  must 
be  to  awaken  the  interest  of  the  pupil  in  the  sub- 
ject under  consideration.  In  a  voluntary  class, 
such  as  is  generally  to  be  found  in  the  Sunday 
school,  this  is  practically  the  only  method.  Only 
it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  problem 
is  not  that  of  arousing  interest  in  the  teaching  of 
the  lesson  by  the  teacher,  and  even  less  in  the 
Sunday  school  or  in  the  class.  Each  of  these  may 
be  a  means  to  the  end,  but  the  end  is  to  arouse 
sufficient  interest  in  the  lesson  itself  to  lead  the 
pupils  to  study  it.  Any  means  by  which  the 
teacher  can  get  a  personal  hold  upon  the  affection 
of  the  pupil  is,  of  course,  to  be  commended. 
The  organization  of  the  class  into  a  club  which 
meets  on  week  days  for  debates,  illustrated  lec- 
tures, or  athletic  sports  has  repeatedly  proved  a 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  91 

great  means  of  awakening  an  esprit  de  corps  with- 
in a  class,  but  even  when  the  pupil  is  thus  identi- 
fied with  the  teacher  and  the  Sunday  school  itself 
there  remains  the  further  difficulty  of  transmitting 
his  social  interest  into  a  studious  interest  in  the 
Bible.     Another  caution  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  7^^  teacher 

.  is  not  an 

and  one  which  m  the  light  of  the  so-called  success  entertainer 
of  many  teachers  needs  especial  emphasis.  Sim- 
ply to  amuse  a  class  while  the  Sunday  school  is 
in  session  is  not  to  arouse  interest  in  the  study  of 
the  lesson.  It  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world 
to  amuse  a  Sunday-school  class — to  talk  to  the 
boys  about  football  games,  or  talk  to  the  girls 
about  each  other's  dress,  or  tell  funny  stories,  or 
even  stories  about  the  Bible.  But  a  teacher  who 
has  merely  amused  his  class  is  not  a  teacher.  He 
has  simply  been  an  entertainer;  he  has  cheapened 
his  office.  Even  enthusiasm  must  be  directed 
to  tasks  before  it  is  efficient.  Here  there  will  be 
as  many  expedients  as  there  are  real  teachers, 
and  it  is  often  true  of  a  teacher,  as  of  a  poet,  that 
he  is  born,  not  manufactured.  None  the  less, 
pedagogy  is  as  much  an  art  as  a  science,  and 
there  are  certain  results  of  pedagogical  experi- 
ence that  are  unquestionably  of  service  just  at 
this  point. 

Let   us    assume   that    the    lesson  is    adapted   First  sugges- 
to   the  pupil,   for    unless    this  be    the  case    the  p°^j  ^j:" 
teacher  will  labor   in  vain.     With  this  assumed,  contact 


92 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Second 
suggestion: 
Study 
historically 


the  first  thing  needed  is  some  point  of  contact 
between  the  lesson  and  the  pupiL  To  neglect 
this  requirement  is  the  first  assurance  of  failure. 
The  boy  or  girl — or,  for  that  matter,  the  man  or 
woman — who  fails  to  see  some  particular  relation 
between  himself  or  herself  and  the  lesson  will 
never  be  induced  to  study.  But  once  let  some 
common  ground  of  interest  be  established  and 
the  teacher's  way  is  open.  Here  perhaps  as 
much  as  at  any  point  will  be  the  test  of  the 
teacher's  fitness  for  his  work.  He  needs  to  begin 
where  he  can,  not  where  he  wishes  to.  The  great 
thing  is  to  begin.  If  this  common  ground  of 
interest  cannot  be  discovered,  it  must  be  made. 
Any  hint  or  question  may  be  appropriated.  A 
class  of  restless  boys  was  once  transformed  by  its 
teacher's  seizing  upon  some  symptom  of  interest 
in  the  topography  of  Jerusalem.  For  a  year 
those  boys  worked  on  the  subject,  and  then  were 
ready  to  study  matters  suggested  by  their  own 
work.  If  one  cannot  have  a  precisely  similar 
success,  try  some  other  approach,  even  if  it  be 
boys'  interest  in  war  and  girls'  interest  in  house- 
keeping. 

In  the  second  place,  the  pupil  should  be 
taught  to  see  the  lesson  in  its  historical  setting. 
Every  approach  to  the  lesson  should  be  through 
biography  or  history.  Prophecy  is  marvelously 
attractive  when  one  appreciates  the  situation  in 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  93 

which  the  prophet  spoke.  Such  historical  set- 
ting must  be  something  more  than  the  mere  de- 
scription of  what  this  king  did  and  the  other  king 
did  not  do.  The  teacher  must  saturate  his  mind 
with  the  events,  the  life,  with  the  conditions  of 
the  people,  as  well  as  with  the  mere  dates.  And 
this  he  must,  by  any  possible  means,  get  the  pupil 
to  do  also,  for  if  Christianity  means  anything  it 
means  that  religious  truth  is  to  be  understood 
through  the  revelation  of  God  in  actual  human 
life.  If  the  teacher  makes  a  lesson  from  Isaiah 
or  Paul  abstract,  it  is  prima  facie  evidence  that 
his  method  is  wrong.  Human  interest,  when  once 
felt,  will  kindle  studious  interest.  As  has  already 
been  urged,  in  making  real  this  historical  situa- 
tion help  can  be  gained  from  modern  history, 
and  especially  from  the  history  which  the  pupil  is 
studying  in  the  public  school.  In  tracing  this 
parallelism  will  also  be  found  the  key  to  the  best 
possible  "application,"  viz.,  a  study  of  the  appli- 
cability of  the  exact  scriptural  teaching  to  the 
conditions  of  today. 

In  the  third  place,  let  the  pupil's  task  be  spe-  Third 
cific.     Indefinite  requirements  and  expectations  Le?task"be 
are  the  bane  of  most  schools.    Give  each  pupil  a  definite 
definite  problem  —  not  too  hard  —  to  work  out. 
It  may  be,  of  course,  that  more  than  one  pupil  or 
the  entire  class  may  have  the  same  problem,  but 
let  it  be  as  human  as  possible,  definite,  and  very 


94  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

specific.  If  the  teacher  has  prepared  himself 
rationally,  he  will  have  found  that  the  passage 
chosen  for  the  coming  Sunday's  lesson  is  full  of 
questions,  which  can  be  definitely  assigned  in 
advance  to  members  of  the  class.  The  prepara- 
tion of  answers  to  these  should  be  required,  and 
the  discussion  of  these  answers  should  constitute 
the  lesson.  As  far  as  possible  questions  and 
answers  should  be  in  writing.  With  such  a 
method,  if  the  teacher  is  reasonably  master  of  the 
subject  and  is  alive  to  the  possibilities  of  his  posi- 
tion, he  may  overcome  the  difficulties  of  even  a 
very  unwisely  selected  series  of  lessons.  It  may 
not  even  be  necessary  to  use  any  series ;  the 
teacher  may  instead  deal  with  some  special  phase 
of  biblical  study. 
Let  the  This  assigned  work  should  be  something  more 

cass  e  than  the  mere  readinof  of  the  Scriptures.     Each 

co-ooerative  '~  r^ 

pupil  should  be  expected  to  contribute  some  defi- 
nite element  to  the  study  of  the  lesson.  Here 
the  teacher's  skill  will  be  shown  in  the  exploiting 
of  each  pupil's  peculiarities  and  capacities.  The 
lesson  must  be  blocked  out  each  Sunday  in  ad- 
vance. No  teacher  can  make  a  success  of  his  work 
by  simply  telling  the  class  that  next  Sunday  they 
will  take  the  next  lesson  in  the  quarterly.  There 
should  be  as  much  care  in  assigning  the  lesson  as 
in  applying  it.  Let  the  last  ten  minutes  of  the 
session  be  devoted  to  outlining  the  work  for  each 


co-operative 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  95 

pupil  to  do  during  the  week.  The  pupil  should 
be  asked,  for  example,  to  bring  information  from 
his  work  in  the  public  school  during  the  week 
which  shall  illustrate  the  lesson,  or,  better,  bring 
it  into  line  with  common  life.  If  the  lesson 
is  upon  Isaiah's  attack  upon  the  rich  men,  let 
the  student  be  asked  to  bring  in  from  the 
newspapers  instances  of  modern  attacks  upon 
rich  men,  and  then  let  the  comparison  between 
the  prophet's  method  and  that  of  the  agitator 
be  noticed.  If  the  lesson  is  upon  some  piece 
of  biographical  matter,  as,  for  example,  the 
voyage  of  Paul,  let  the  pupil  be  told  to  bring  in 
something  about  the  places  which  Paul  visited, 
each  pupil  taking  perhaps  one  city.  So,  simi- 
larly, in  the  matter  of  exegetical  study.  If  the 
questions  are  made  distinct  enough,  a  class  of 
boys  and  girls  twelve  years  old  can  do  an  aston- 
ishing amount  of  downright  exegetical  study. 
Here  it  would  be  best,  probably,  for  this  work  to 
be  reported  in  writing.  Then  in  the  class  let  the 
various  answers  to  the  questions  be  discussed. 

In  the  treatment  of  these  reports,  written  or  Fourth 
oral,  the  teacher  has  the  greatest  opportunity  for  suggestion: 

°  *■  *■  •'  Appreciate 

stimulating  the  ambition  and  the  interest  of  the  good  work 
pupil.     Just  how  he  will  treat  them  will  depend 
very  largely  upon  the  character  of  the  lesson  and 
the  character  of  the  class.     One  thing  a  teacher 
will  be  careful  not  to  do  —  indiscriminately  blame 


96 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Appeal  to  the 

pupil's 

ambition 


The  duty  of 
the  teacher 


a  pupil  for  poor  but  honest  work.  In  fact,  he 
must  remember  always  that  his  chief  object  is 
constructive.  At  this  point  one  must  appeal  to 
the  strongest  motives,  and,  as  far  as  it  can  be 
done  rightfully,  to  the  pupil's  ambition.  In  some 
cases  it  has  proved  highly  advantageous  to  offer 
prizes  for  the  best  quality  of  work  done  during  a 
certain  period.  In  other  cases  it  has  been  enough 
to  rank  the  work  brought  in,  as  is  done  in  the 
public  schools,  giving,  perhaps,  honorable  men- 
tion for  work  of  a  certain  grade.  If  the  Sunday 
school  is  graded,  it  is  possible  to  make  the 
pupil's  written  work  a  basis  for  promotion.  But  at 
the  same  time  that  the  appeal  is  made  to  ambition 
it  is  indispensable  that  the  reasonableness  and 
duty  of  a  proper  understanding  of  the  Bible  be 
also  enforced.  The  main  object  is  here  to  develop 
studious  habits,  not  pride.  If  a  teacher  can  get 
a  pupil  to  undertake  a  series  of  tasks  in  suc- 
cessive weeks,  that  very  fact  will  have  engen- 
dered interest,  or,  at  least,  a  habit  that  is  quite 
as  good.  But  the  teacher  himself  should  know 
how  to  use  the  results  of  the  pupil's  work. 
Simply  to  allow  him  to  read  his  answers  and  then 
sit  dumb  and  quiet  —  or,  more  probably,  noisy  and 
restless — while  another  is  reading  his  report,  will 
be  not  only  to  dampen  interest,  but  to  kill  the  class. 
When  the  pupil  brings  in  the  report  of  his  work 
the  second  great  duty  of  the  teacher  begins.    He 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  97 

must  take  his  pupils' results  and  combine  them,   Study  should 
explain  them,  apply  them.     Every  lesson  should  rdigious 
be  a  unit,  and,  however  varied  the  tasks  assigned  ^^^^'"gs 
to  each  boy  or  girl,  when  their  reports  are  made 
the  teacher   must  make  it   evident  to  them  that 
they  have  been  co-working.     By  a  proper  placing 
of  emphasis  in  this  co-operation  the  teacher  can 
lead   the  pupil   so   to  master  the   religious  and 
moral  meaning  of  the  Scripture  as  to  be  strength- 
ened morally  and  religiously.     If  once  the  pupil 
has  been  led  to  study,  he  may  well  be  expected 
to  be  interested  in  and  devoted  to  the  truth  he 
has  learned. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    TEACHER    AND    THE    RELIGIOUS    LIFE 
OF  THE  PUPIL. 

The  In  previous  chapters  we  have  repeatedly  laid  down 

fun"damenta'i°y  ^^^  emphasized  the  principle   that  the  ultimate 
religious  in       purDosc  of  all  Sundav-school  teaching",  as  of  all 

purpose  ^        ■*■  -^  "  ^ 

other  parts  of  the  work  of  the  Sunday  school,  is 
religious.  The  conversion  of  the  pupil  and  his 
development  in  Christian  character  are  the  ends 
for  which  the  Sunday  school  exists.  These 
ends  are  to  be  sought  in  the  Sunday  school 
mainly  through  instruction,  and  in  particular 
through  the  teaching  of  the  Bible.  Mainly,  we 
say,  but  not  exclusively.  The  Sunday-school 
teacher  is  not  simply  a  teacher.  His  religious 
influence  on  the  pupil  ought  not  to  be  limited, 
cannot  be  limited,  to  that  which  he  brings  to 
bear  through  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  which 
he  imparts,  or  which  the  pupil  under  his  instruc- 
tion gains.  He  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  friend 
and  pastor  of  the  pupil  as  well  as  his  instructor. 
Whether  he  intend  it  or  not,  he  will  through 
his  own  character  affect  the  character  of  his 
pupil.  In  a  large  proportion  of  cases  certainly 
the  teacher  fails  to  make  full  use  of  his  opportu- 

98 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  99 

nity  if  he  does  not  by  conscious  and  direct  effort 
seek  to  exert  on  his  pupil  a  helpful  religious  in- 
fluence. These  propositions  we  state  dogmati- 
cally, without  argument,  believing  that  they  will 
be  accepted  by  our  readers  generally.  It  is  not 
these  that  we  propose  to  discuss,  but  rather  the 
question  how  the  teacher  can  most  effectively 
make  his  relation  to  the  pupil,  whether  as  in- 
structor or  as  friend,  most  conducive  to  the  pu- 
pil's religious  development. 

Consider,  then,  what  the  teacher  can  do   in  How  can 

•11-  ir  1-  '-r       teaching  be 

direct  connection  with  his  work  of  teaching,  io  made  most 
guard  against  misapprehension,  let  that  be  re-  J^^'^^^^gj  p 
peated  which  has  been  previously  insisted  on  in 
these  pages,  that  that  study  and  teaching  of  the 
Bible  are  not  the  most  effective,  religiously, 
which,  disdaining  to  take  time  for  interpretation, 
plunge  headlong  into  application.  Moral  effect 
is  to  be  obtained  through  the  presentation  of 
truth ;  truth  is  conveyed  in  the  Bible  through 
direct  statement,  or  through  facts  full  of  mean- 
ing ;  both  demand  interpretation.  But  when 
this  is  clearly  recognized  and  admitted  the  ques- 
tion still  remains :  How  can  the  teacher  make 
his  interpretative  teaching  most  effective  reli- 
giously ? 

In  the  first  place,  let  it  be  said  that  the  reli-  The  reiigioi 
gious  purpose  must  pervade  the  whole  process  of  ^"Jj^^^j^i 
study   and   teaching.     The   existence  of  such  a 


loo  -PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

purpose  deeply  rooted  in  the  heart  of  the  teacher 
gives  to  his  whole  work  an  atmosphere  difficult 
to  define,  but  sure  to  influence  the  pupil,  though 
perhaps  as  unconsciously  as  it  is  exerted.  This 
intangible  but  very  real  quality  which  is  imparted 
to  one's  teaching  by  the  spirit  and  motive  with 
which  it  is  undertaken,  this  atmosphere  which  is 
created  by  the  fact  that  the  teacher's  work  is  un- 
dertaken with  prayer  and  carried  forward  with 
the  supreme  desire  to  render  his  pupils  a  real  re- 
ligious service,  is  the  most  important  factor  of 
the  teacher's  work,  religiously  speaking. 
Application  of         But   such  a   purposc,  clcarly  and   constantly 

truth  to  the  .  .         ,      ,  -  , 

conscience       mamtamcd,  does  more  than  create  an  atmosphere, 
legitimate  and  jf  combined  with  the  recognition  of  the  teacher's 

necessary  ° 

function  as  an  interpreter,  of  which  we  have  al- 
ready spoken,  it  will  in  the  highest  degree  con- 
duce to  a  perception  of  how  the  facts  and  truths 
of  the  Scripture  can  be  made  to  apply  to  the 
needs  and  consciences  of  the  pupils.  There  is, 
no  doubt,  a  prejudice  on  the  part  of  many  intelli- 
gent teachers  against  any  direct  spiritual  applica- 
tion of  the  lesson  to  the  class.  The  prejudice 
has  its  occasion  and  excuse  in  the  too  prevalent 
substitution  of  rough-and-ready  application  for 
real  teaching.  And  it  may,  indeed,  be  doubted 
whether  teaching  without  application  is  not  bet- 
ter than  application  without  teaching.  But  it  by 
no  means  follows  that  teaching  without  applica- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  loi 

tion  is  better  than  teaching  with  it.  In  truth,  if 
the  teacher  really  teaches  the  Scripture,  brings 
out  its  meaning  in  a  genuinely  historical  spirit, 
induces  the  pupil  both  to  see  the  facts  and  teach- 
ings which  it  contains  in  their  true  light  and  to 
fix  them  in  mind,  he  need  have  no  fear  of  cheap- 
ening his  work  by  pointing  out  faithfully  the  re- 
lation of  the  truths,  thus  set  in  a  clear  intellectual  The  nature 
light,  to  the  life  and  duty  of  the  pupil.  Strong,  appikation 
clear,  religious  teaching,  serious  appeal  to  the  con- 
science based  on  fair  exposition  of  the  Scripture, 
is  not  repugnant  to  the  pupils  of  our  Sunday 
schools.  They  need  it,  and  they  will  welcome  it. 
It  is  not  this,  but  feeble  and  oft-repeated  exhor- 
tation based  on  nothing  in  particular,  that  repels 
them  and  drives  them  from  the  school  as  soon  as 
they  get  beyond  the  years  of  childhood.  The 
teacher  who  fairly  and  forcibly  brings  forth  the 
meaning  of  the  Scripture  record,  setting  fact  in 
relation  to  fact,  and  teaching  in  the  light  of  its 
historic  occasion  —  such  a  teacher  does  well.  But 
he  does  better  who  to  such  intellectually  strong 
teaching  adds  now  and  again,  when  the  occasion 
permits  and  his  heart  impels  him,  the  equally 
clear,  forcible,  and  direct  appeal  to  the  con- 
sciences of  his  pupils.  And  he  who  strenuously 
excludes  this  latter  element  from  his  teaching 
robs  that  teaching  of  an  element  which  would 
give  it,  not  only  added  religious  value,  but  in- 
creased attractiveness. 


I02  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

Religious  But  the  bcst  teachers  are,  as  we  have  said, 

influence  . 

outside  the       Something  more  than  mstructors.     They  are  also 
class  friends  and  pastors  to  their  pupils.     In  this  latter 

character  they  have  the  opportunity  to  exert  a  re- 
ligious influence,  we  will  not  say  superior  to  that 
which  they  can  exert  in  the  work  of  teaching,  for 
it  is  doubtful  whether  this  is  possible,  but  at  any 
rate  complementary  to  that  of  the  class  hour. 
Suggestions  of  method  in  this  matter  must  of 
necessity  be  of  a  general  character.  The  problem 
is  in  every  case  a  personal  one.  No  one  can  lay 
down  rules  by  the  application  of  which  one  per- 
son can  influence  another  religiously.  The  fun- 
damental conditions  for  the  exertion  of  such  an 
influence  are  a  genuine  Christian  character  on 
the  part  of  the  teacher  and  a  genuine  interest  in 
the  religious  walfare  of  the  pupil.  This  interest 
must  not  be  merely  professional  and  perfunctory, 
but  sincere  and  personal.  Given  this,  the  teacher 
will  find  his  own  ways,  whether  by  private  con- 
versation, by  class  prayer-meetings,  by  invitations 
to  the  services  of  the  church,  or  by  acts  of  per- 
sonal kindness,  which,  combined  with  the  teach- 
ings of  the  class  hour,  will  express,  perhaps  as 
effectively  as  any  other  means  could,  his  genuine 
and  deep  desire  for  the  religious  welfare  of  his 
pupil. 

But  effective  as  may  be  such  expressions  of 
the  teacher's  own  desire,  he  cannot  be   content 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  103 

with  this.  Some  response  must  be  expected  from  The  response 
the  pupil.  The  teacher  will  endeavor  by  every  be  expected 
legitimate  means  to  induce  those  for  whom  he 
labors  to  express  every  newly  aroused  religious 
emotion  and  purpose  in  some  definite  act  which 
will  tend  to  make  it  of  permanent  moral  effect.  To 
arouse  emotion  which  produces  no  effect  on  con- 
duct is  a  serious  pedagogical  mistake.  The  test 
of  the  teacher's  success  in  this  matter  is  not  his 
facility  in  exciting  the  pupils'  feelings,  but  his 
ability  so  to  arouse  them  that  each  such  experi- 
ence shall  leave  the  pupil  on  a  higher  moral  plane 
than  it  found  him.  Just  how  the  teacher  will  do 
this  must  be  left  largely  to  his  own  good  sense. 
First  in  importance  is  the  necessity  that  the 
pupil  be  brought  to  a  definite  consecration  of 
himself  to  the  Christian  life.  This  decision,  Conversion 
which  for  brevity  we  have  already  repeatedly 
spoken  of  as  "  conversion,"  must  of  course  always 
be  a  personal  and  individual  experience.  It  is  a 
matter  of  secondary  importance  whether  the 
pupil  himself  is  definitely  aware  of  its  nature,  or 
recognizes  at  the  moment  its  importance,  or 
passes  through  it  simultaneously  with  others. 
Yet  in  some  form  the  idea  that  underlies  the  so- 
called  "Decision  Day  "  may  be  found  practicable 
and  helpful.  Many  young  people  will  be  greatly 
aided  in  making  a  confession  of  a  new  faith  by 
finding  that  those  of  their  own  age  are  also  taking 


I04 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Religious 
decisions 
must  not 
be  forced 


the  same  step.     Religious  action  is  less  difficult 
when  social  than  when  individual. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  in  certain  stages  in  their  growth  young 
persons  are  especially  susceptible  to  religious 
impulses  will  lead  the  intelligent  teacher  to  avoid 
anything  like  merely  conventional  or  too  often 
repeated  religious  exhortation,  which,  however 
well  intended,  is  very  apt  to  alienate  boys  and 
girls,  if  indeed  not  to  deaden  their  religious  sen- 
sibilities. The  teacher  needs  to  remember  that 
real  decision,  that  deep  emotional  and  volitional 
change  which  constitutes  the  great  epoch  in  the 
religious  life  of  the  pupil,  can  never  be  forced  by 
pressure  or  excitement.  In  the  pupils'  case  as 
in  his  own,  it  is  often  dangerous  to  seek  imme- 
diate externally  recognizable  results.  The  divine 
Spirit  works  very  gently  and  unnoticed  in 
young  hearts,  and  the  strongest  and  sweetest 
natures  often  ripen  very  slowly.  At  the  same 
time,  boys  and  girls,  as  they  approach  adoles- 
cence, and  again  as  they  approach  maturity,  are 
especially  susceptible  to  religious  appeals.  The 
wise  teacher  will  not  only  be  patient,  but  will 
be  quick  to  seize  upon  the  moment  thus  made 
strategic  by  nature  itself. 

But  it  would  be  a  serious  mistake  to  regard 
a  teacher's  religious  duty  to  his  pupils  as  ful- 
filled when  he  has  been  instrumental  in  their  con- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  105 

version.     After   the    pupil's  decision    to  lead    a  The  passage 
Christian  life  has   been    learned,     the  teacher's  unthinking  to 
effort  will  be  in  a  true   sense   religiously   educa-  »"  intelligent 
tional.     He  will  seek  to  lead  the  new  life  of  the 
pupil  into  the  larger  and  stronger  state  that  may 
await  it.    Too  often  teachers  overlook  this  respon- 
sibility, but  it  is  always  present.     As  the  teacher 
grows,  so  should  his  Christian  pupils  grow.    Just 
because  he  is  their  friend  the  teacher  must   edu- 
cate them  by  sharing  with  them   his   own  broad- 
ening faith.     But  here  we  pass   from  principles 
to  personality.     There  is   no   rule  to  be  quoted. 
The  teacher  must  act  the   friend,  and  friendship 
needs  no  pedagogy. 

Yet  there  is  one  particular  phase  of  this  part  Difficulties  in 
of   the  teacher's   work  that    demands  a    special  the  teacher's 

^  attempt 

word.  How  shall  the  teacher  most  effectively 
help  those  pupils  whose  transition  from  a  child- 
hood's to  a  manhood's  faith  is  attended  with 
struggle  and  doubt  ?  In  the  case  of  many  persons 
life  produces  no  change  in  faith,  and  a  man  dies 
as  he  has  lived,  accepting  vital  truths  without 
either  well-grounded  dissent  or  assent.  But  in  the 
case  of  many  genuine  students  and  teachers  there 
come  times  when  an  unreasoning  acceptance  of 
God  and  truth  is  no  longer  possible,  or,  at  least, 
is  unsatisfactory,  and  an  attempt  is  made,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  base  faith  upon  grounds  which  can 
command  the  assent  of  one's  more  mature  thought. 


io6  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

Moments  of     Such    moments  are  critical  in    a    person's    own 

transition  i--  i-r  i  •  «  ■,        i         ■,        ■,        ^ 

religious  life;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
for  an  honest  man  they  are  half  as  critical  as  the 
attempt  to  lead  another  from  an  unthinking  to  a 
rational  faith.  Then  there  is  involved  not  merely 
the  question  of  one's  own  religious  health,  but 
also  the  entire  question  of  the  possibility  of  lead- 
ing another  mind  through  change  into  a  new  spir- 
itual experience.  There  is  the  possibility  that  the 
teacher  will  not  only  unsettle,  but  destroy,  anoth- 
er's faith.  There  is  the  danger  that,  in  breaking 
down  the  old  authority  upon  which  faith  was 
based,  there  will  be  also  broken  down  the  moral 
authority  which  controlled  the  other's  life. 
Why  attempt         For  thcsc  and  other  reasons  a  conscientious 

to  reground  ,  ,         .  .  -        ^^      -      •  ■, 

faith?  teacher  who  is  growing  in  Christian  knowledge 

and  faith  is  tempted  to  ask,  Is  the  effort  worth 
the  pains?  If  superstition  gives  birth  to  honesty, 
why  attempt  to  abolish  it  ?  If  unthinking  faith 
and  conventional  acceptance  of  doctrine  make 
a  man's  life  pure  and  helpful,  why  not  leave  him 
enjoying  things  so  effective  ?  Why  compel  him 
to  run  the  risks  with  which  the  educational 
problem  confronts  one  ? 

Inaction  is  Thesc  difficulties  are  not  merely    rhetorical. 

Probably  no  man  who  is  deliberately  attempting 
such  an  educational  process  escapes  the  feeling 
at  times  that  his  efforts  are  gratuitous  and 
ill-advised,    if  not  hurtful.      It  is    far  easier  to 


easier 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  107 

withdraw  from  such  efforts  than  to  devote  him- 
self to  discovering  their  proper  method.  A  Sun- 
day-school teacher  who  finds  his  young  class 
unable  to  follow  the  intellectual  experience 
through  which  he  himself  has  passed  often  is 
tempted  to  say  that  the  experience  may  very  well 
be  kept  in  the  background,  and  the  boy  or  girl  be 
allowed  to  follow  along  the  line  of  such  religious 
thought  as  circumstances  may  determine. 

Such  considerations  are  of  weight;  but,  after  a  teacher 
all,  of  not  much  weight.    They  simply  emphasize  JJ^e'^^'^^ruth^ 
the  need  that  the  teacher  who  wishes  to  help  his  with  the  pupil 
pupil  must  be  cautious — as  wise  as  a  serpent,  if 
he  wishes  to  be  harmless  as  a  dove.    They  do  not 
inculcate  the  duty  of  silence  or  of  a  retreat  from 
an    educational  effort;  for    why   should  not  re- 
ligious   faith     share    in    a    person's     intellectual 
growth?     Why  should  a  child  whose  future  will 
lead  him  into  the  problems  of  law,  or  medicine, 
or  modern    business,    be   taught   to    be   content 
with   a  faith   about  whose  foundations  he   does 
not  allow  himself  to  think?     Is  it  not  rather  the 
duty  of  a  teacher  to  train  his  pupils  to  grow  in  the 
capacity  for  faith? 

For  a  man  who  has  new  glimpses  of  religion 
to  refuse  to  share  them  with  immature  minds  is 
downright  selfishness.  In  the  same  proportion 
as  the  one  is  able  to  bear  should  the  other  reveal. 
There  is  nothing  more  remarkable  in  the  min- 


io8 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  teaching 
of  today  is 
making  the 
Christianity 
of  tomorrow 


But  what  if 
a  teacher 
be  mistaken? 


istry  of  Jesus  than  his  recognition  of  this  prin- 
ciple. He  was  as  far  as  possible  from  adopt- 
ing a  policy  of  ultra-caution  in  this  respect. 
The  future  of  Christianity  among  an  intelligent 
people  will  depend  upon  the  degree  of  success 
attending  the  efforts  of  those  who  are  teaching 
boys  and  girls  to  accept  the  gospel  as  a  reve- 
lation of  God,  and  who,  by  sharing  with  their 
pupils  their  own  broadening  religious  thought  and 
experience,  are  aiding  them  to  see  the  reasonable- 
ness and  the  beauty  of  a  Christian  truth. 

But  what  if  the  teacher  be  mistaken  and  his 
message  be  not  true?  Undoubtedly  here  is  a  dan- 
ger. If  any  man  should  be  humble  and  prayerful, 
it  is  he  to  whom  there  has  been  given  a  new  vision 
of  divine  truth.  Novelties  often  masquerade  as 
truth.  But  if  a  man  has  trained  himself  to  ele- 
mentary intellectual  honesty;  if  he  is  less  desirous 
of  reputation  than  of  verity;  if  he  is  himself  pro- 
foundly convinced  that  what  he  believes  to  be 
true  is  true — there  is  nothing  for  him  to  do  but 
to  teach  it. 

A  teacher  must  give  his  pupils  the  best  there  is 
in  him ;  and  if  that  best  be  new,  then,  in  so  far 
as  he  believes  it  helpful,  must  he  share  it,  or  be 
forever  an  unprofitable  servant  who  has  hidden 
his  Lord's  talent  in  a  napkin. 

A  faith  in  the  Bible  as  a  storehouse  and  reve- 
lation of  divine  thought  and  in  truth  as  an  effect- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  109 

ive  agency  for  the  production  of  character,  which  Summary: 
will  constrain   the  teacher  to   make   it   his  first  prerequisites 
aim  in  teaching  to  bring  forth  clearly  the  mean-  of  religious 

.  -^  effectiveness 

ing  of  the  Scripture,  and  to  make  his  whole  work 
fundamentally  interpretative  ;  a  genuine  Christian 
character  and  a  sincerely  religious  and  prayerful 
life;  an  unaffected  personal  interest  in  the  reli- 
gious welfare  of  his  pupils;  a  readiness  to  utilize 
moments  and  conditions  especially  favorable  to 
conversion  ;  a  profound  sense  of  his  responsibility 
to  share  his  maturing  faith,  rather  than  his  ques- 
tionings, with  the  immature  minds  intrusted  to 
him ;  sanctified  courage,  and  good  sense  in  devis- 
ing ways  and  means  —  these,  we  believe,  are  qual- 
ities which  will  assure  not  only  intellectually,  but 
religiously,  effective  Sunday-school  teaching. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Popular 
interest  in 
Bible  study 
a  new 
phenomenon 


THE  PASTOR  AS  A  TEACHER  OF  TEACHERS. 

One  cannot  have  good  instruction  without  good 
instructors.  Never  was  this  truism  so  evidently 
true  as  today.  The  remarkable  growth  of  interest 
in  Bible  study  now  everywhere  evident  demands 
the  immediate  improvement  of  the  teaching  force 
in  all  our  churches.  It  is  not  many  years  since  the 
members  of  churches  allowed  their  pastors  to 
serve  as  their  vicars  in  such  study,  and  were  con- 
tent with  such  crumbs  of  biblical  lore  as  fell  from 
sermons  or  Sunday-school  helps.  It  is  true  that 
Christian  people,  then  as  always,  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  read  the  Bible,  but,  if  results  are 
any  criterion,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  such 
reading  was  desultory  and  thoughtless.  Speaking 
generally,  the  Bible  was  consulted,  committed  to 
memory,  even  worshipped  ;  but  it  was  not  studied. 
Contrast  this  situation  with  that  in  the 
churches  today.  The  revolt  against  Sunday- 
school  methods  that  were  satisfactory  ten  years 
ago  has  practically  become  a  revolution.  Bible 
classes — some  with  very  rudimentary  methods, 
it  must  be  admitted  —  number  thousands  of 
members.       Bible-Study    Leagues,    Young    Peo- 

IIO 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  iii 

pie's  Societies'  courses,  Reading  Guilds,  corre- 
spondence courses  of  innumberable  sorts,  popular 
lectures — these  do  not  begin  to  exhaust  the  evi- 
dence at  hand  pointing  to  the  widespread  de- 
mand for  Bible  study  among  the  rank  and  file  of 
church  members.  The  American  Institute  of 
Sacred  Literature  alone  during  a  single  year  has 
ten  thousand  persons  enrolled  as  students,  some 
individually  and  some  in  classes.  So  ubiquitous 
is  the  interest  that  it  may  almost  be  said  to  be 
a  characteristic  of  the  day.  To  neglect  it  is  to  it  cannot 
neglect  a  sign  of  the  times.  The  rank  and  file 
of  the  churches  may  not  be  in  advance  of  their 
leaders,  but  they  are  certainly  making  new  de- 
mands for  instruction.  The  present  generation 
has  suffered  so  greatly  from  ignorant  and  fanati- 
cal interpreters  of  the  Scriptures  that  it  sees 
clearly  that,  so  far  as  the  Bible  is  concerned,  its 
only  hope  lies  in  a  sane  and  rational  knowledge 
of  the  biblical  teachings. 

Those  who  have  carefully  observed  the  cur-  its  cause 
rents  of  church  life  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years,  and  who  have  kept  themselves  in  touch 
with  theological  tendencies,  cannot  be  surprised 
at  the  present  condition  of  affairs.  In  many 
quarters  it  has,  indeed,  been  foreseen.  For  it 
cannot  be  traced  to  any  one  agency,  or  to  any 
local  causes,  and  it  is  peculiar  to  no  country  or 
denomination.     Germany   and   England,  France 


I  12 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  result 
of  historical 
study 


Its  inspiring 
message 


and  America,  though  in  differing  degrees,  have 
all  shared  in  the  movement ;  while  both  the 
great  Roman  church  and  all  really  virile  Prot- 
estant denominations  have  felt  the  same  need 
and  in  many  ways  have  attempted  to  satisfy  it. 

Yet  this  very  universality  argues  a  common 
cause,  and  that,  too,  one  not  hard  to  find.  Compare 
the  age  of  pietistic,  "commenting  "  devotion  to  the 
Bible  with  today,  and  the  great  difference  at 
once  appears  :  the  supremacy  of  the  historical  meth- 
od. So  long  as  the  Bible  was  studied  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  doctrines,  so  long  its  study 
could  appeal  but  to  the  theologically  mind- 
ed. That  it  was  so  studied,  and  that  such  study 
was  considered  the  only  legitimate  method,  will 
appear  to  anyone  who  will  recall  the  reception 
accorded  pioneer  popular  works  like  those  of 
Stanley  in  the  Old  Testament  field  or  Seeley  in 
that  of  the  New.  Men  thought  it  as  impious  to 
speak  of  Jesus  being  historically  conditioned  as 
to  speak  of  men  as  descendants  of  the  lower 
animals.  Religious  teachers  were  bent  on  sustain- 
ing theologies,  and  the  ordinary  Christian  judged 
Bible  study  by  its  theological  fruits. 

And  then  into  the  midst  of  it  all  came  the 
summons,  alarming  at  first,  but  to  every  man 
who  was  in  touch  with  the  thought  of  his  age 
full  of  inspiration :  Study  the  Bible  as  one 
studies  other  literatures ;  interpret  its  teachings 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  113 

in  the  light  of  the  circumstances  for  which  they 
were  intended  and  out  of  which  they  sprang; 
use  historical  results  to  discriminate  between  the 
essential  and  the  accidental;  in  all  things  hold 
yourself  independent  of  all  dogma  and  discover 
what  the  biblical  writers  actually  taught,  not 
what  they  ought  to  have  taught.  No  student 
will  ever  forget  the  moment  when  for  ,the  first 
time  he  realized  the  full  significance  of  such 
a  summons.  Brought  face  to  face  with  a  choice 
between  such  a  method  and  the  abandonment  of 
some  dogmatic  position,  he  who  chose  to  follow 
the  new  call  suddenly  found  himself  interested  The  new 
as  never  before  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  Bible. 
It  was  not  merely  a  new  literature,  it  was  a  new 
revelation  of  God  ;  and  in  the  first  flush  of  his 
enthusiasm  he  endeavored  to  lead  others  into 
similiar  independence  and  similiar  appreciation 
of  biblical  truth.  Hebrew  and  Assyriology, 
Greek  grammar  and  ancient  history,  were  no 
longer  of  merely  academic  interest.  The  touch 
of  history  that  had  revivified  the  Bible  revivified, 
even  when  it  did  not  create,  a  world  of  allied 
interests. 

The  fruit  of  this  new  spirit,  diffused  by  teach- 
ers and  publications  through  a  quarter  of  a 
century  in  America,  we  are  just  beginning  to  dis- 
cover. Popular  interest  in  the  Bible  is  the  out- 
come of  popularizing  historical  methods.     And 


114  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

this  fact  in  itself  shows  the  need  of  better  pre- 
pared teachers  in  the  Sunday  school.     There  are 
Two  two  sup^s^estions  spring-ingf  from  these  facts.    The 

suggestions:  .  .  o      o 

(i)  The         first  is  this  :  The  Christian  minister,  if  he  is  wise, 
I^cognizeThe  ^^^^  recognize  this  interest  and  conform  to  it.     It 
new  interest     is  only  a  matter  of  working  wisely  and  along  the 
line  of  least  resistance.    It  is  idle  to  plead  that  the 
minister  already  has  so  many  imperative  duties 
that  he  cannot  add  another.     The   situation   is 
too  critical  for  such  casuistry.     Here  is  a  great 
popular  movement  in  the  churches ;  will  minis- 
ters direct  it,  or  will  they  abandon  the  strategic 
opportunity  and  conscientiously  but  blindly  pre- 
fer a  course  of  action  that,  as  any  sensible  min- 
ister confesses,  leads  into  a  restless  activity  that 
distracts  quite  as  much  as  it  edifies? 
(2)  Popular  The  second  suofRestion  is  intended   for  those 

Bible  study  .     .  ,  .  , 

must  be  mmisters  who   recognize  the   strategic  situation 

historical  ^^^  determine  to  exploit  it.  It  is  this  :  Do  not 
make  the  mistake  of  believing  that  anything 
short  of  the  true  historical  method  will  either 
satisfy  yourself  or  meet  the  demands  of  your 
people.  You  do  not  need  to  be  specialists  in 
historical  criticism,  but  you  do  need  to  teach  the 
Bible  as  those  who  know  about  its  composition, 
its  history,  its  times.  Merely  to  make  pious  or 
"spiritual"  comments  may  for  a  time  interest 
pious  people,  but  the  real  teaching  of  the  Bible 
is  not  to  be  gained  merely  by  homiletical  ingenu- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  115 

ity,  religious  zeal,  or  even  spiritual  insight.  The 
Bible  from  today  forward  will  interest  and  in- 
spire in  the  same  proportion  as  it  is  studied  and 
taught,  not  only  sympathetically  and  prayerfully, 
but  also  historically.  First  discover  precisely 
what  the  inspired  writers  meant  to  teach  their 
own  times,  and  then  will  one  see  clearly  how  to 
apply  that  teaching  to  one's  own  time. 

But  the  opportunity  for  pastors  is  by  no 
means  exhausted  by  these  general  considera- 
tions. Upon  them,  we  cannot  but  believe,  rests 
ultimately  the  responsibility  of  seeing  that  the 
Bible  is  taught  by  properly  instructed  persons. 
Speaking  generally,  and  always  with  due  allow-  The 
ance    for  necessary  exceptions,  much   religious  ?^^^  °^ , 

•^  ^  °  instructed 

indifference  and  doubt  may  be  traced  to  the  instructors 
instruction  in  the  Bible  received  in  the  Sunday 
school.  The  impressions  made  in  childhood,  be 
they  never  so  general,  are  almost  certain  to 
affect,  if  not  to  regulate,  the  thinking  of  one's 
maturer  years,  and  many  a  man  has  passed 
through  a  paralyzing  struggle  with  doubt  which 
might  have  been  avoided  had  there  been  no  mis- 
leading teaching  as  to  the  Bible  given  him  while 
a  child. 

If  there  were  no  other  reason,  this  fact  makes 
it  indispensable  that  the  Sunday-school  teacher 
should  have  training  in  Bible  study.  It  is 
unpardonable    for    the    Protestant    churches   to 


ii6  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

leave  the  doctrinal  and  religious  instruction  of 
their  future  members  to  untrained  men  and 
women  who  must  inevitably  propagate  misin- 
terpretations of  the  Scripture  and  its  teachings. 
To  guarantee  intelligent  faith  in  the  man  demands 
that  there  be  intelligent  instructors  of  the 
child.  It  is  the  knowledge  that  such  prepara- 
tion is  not  demanded  in  the  average  Sunday- 
school  that  causes  many  parents  to  fear  to 
expose  their  children  to  the  danger  of  being 
taught,  as  divinely  inspired  truths,  crude  opin- 
ions which  must  be  unlearned  in  later  years. 
For  in  unlearning  such  instruction  they  are  only 
too  liable  to  question  Christianity  itself.  The 
remedy  for  such  a  danger  to  the  church  lies  in 
the  biblical  education  of  its  lay  workers. 
The  sort  of  And  this  education  must  be  something  more 

instruction  ,  .  o         i  i         i  » 

needed  than  a  crammmg  process.    Sunday-school  teach- 

ers must  know  something  more  than  what  to 
teach  on  the  next  Sunday.  Such  a  process, 
so  frequently  the  sole  work  of  a  teacher's  meet- 
ing, may  perhaps  be  better  than  nothing ;  for 
presumably  the  pastor  or  the  superintendent  is 
more  intelligent  in  the  use  of  the  Scripture  than 
those  he  instructs ;  but  there  is  in  it  little  or  no 
disciplinary  value,  and  too  often  but  little  to 
lead  the  teacher  to  adopt  a  correct  attitude 
toward  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  or  to  biblical 
teaching  as   a  whole.     The  proper  training  for 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  117 

the  Sunday-school  teacher  is  that  received  by 
the  pastor  himself.  Not  that  it  should  be  in  the 
original  languages  —  although  there  are  many 
Sunday-school  teachers  who  might  well  study 
the  Scripture  in  Greek  or  in  Hebrew — but  rather 
that  the  teacher  should  be  taught  to  handle  his 
Bible  as  theological  students  are  taught  in  any 
reputable  seminary  how  to  handle  theirs  They 
should  learn  to  adopt  the  historical  point  of 
view;  to  become  interpreters  rather  than  com- 
ment-makers ;  to  let  the  Bible  do  its  own  teach- 
ing. They  should  be  taught  to  use  the  best  helps, 
even  though  they  are  not  the  product  of  their  own 
denominational  publishing  house ;  to  distinguish 
rigorously  between  a  lesson  suggested  by  a 
passage  and  the  actual  teaching  of  that  passage. 
They  should  be  taught  that  exhortation  is  value- 
less unless  it  presupposes  instruction,  and  that 
their  first  duty  as  teachers  in  the  Sunday-school 
is  not  to  entertain  their  pupils,  but  to  instruct 
them  in  the  Word  of  God. 

The  pastor  cannot  safely  abandon  this  teach-  The  pastor 
ing  of  those  who  are  to  teach  the  members  of  [^^hera*"^ 
the  future  church  to  enthusiastic  young  women 
or  young  men  totally  uninstructed  except  by 
others  themselves  uninstructed.  Goodness,  spirit- 
uality, prayerfulness,  indispensable  as  each  is, 
can  never  by  themselves  make  suitable  Sunday- 
school  workers.     It  is  the  duty  of  the  pastor  to 


ii8 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  pastor 
must  train 
up  a 

generation 
of  Bible 
students 


train  up  teachers.  If  he  does  not  do  it,  who 
will?  And  if  he  does  not  do  it  well,  who  will 
correct  his  errors  ?  And  if  untaught  or  ill-taught 
teachers  propagate  their  ignorance,  the  inefifi- 
ciency  and  ignorance  of  his  church,  and  the 
struggles  of  his  parishioners  with  doubt,  must  be 
charged  in  large  measure  to  the  pastor  himself, 
who,  while  pretending  to  stand  for  the  truth  of 
the  Bible,  has  not  trained  his  teachers  to  teach  it. 
But  a  pastor's  duty  is  by  no  means  limited  to 
those  who  constitute  the  teaching  force  of  the 
Sunday  school.  So  long  as  any  member  of  his 
church  is  likely  to  be  drafted  into  the  work 
of  instruction,  it  will  be  his  duty  to  be  the  bibli- 
cal teacher  of  his  entire  church.  He  cannot  for 
a  moment  forget  that,  as  the  ordinary  church 
is  organized,  biblical  instruction  will  be  given  the 
young  by  lay  workers  and  not  by  himself.  They, 
and  not  he,  give  men  their  first  theological  im- 
pressions. His  duty,  therefore,  is  clear.  He 
must  not  only  himself  become  a  conscientious, 
unsectarian  student  of  the  Bible,  but  he  must 
also  train  up  a  generation  of  men  and  women  to 
be  the  same.  He  must  see  that  the  religious 
instruction  given  children  is  moral  and  soundly 
biblical.  In  this  way  alone  can  he  hope  to  build 
up  a  strong  and  long-lived  organization.  Anec- 
dotes, oratory,  theological  demagogism,  may 
draw  the  crowds  and  swell  the  church  rolls,  but 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  119 

not  one  of  them  will  build  a  strong  church.  The  The  final 
country  is  strewn  with  wrecks  of  societies  which  ^"'^ 
have  been  for  a  moment  swollen  into  abnormal 
size  by  some  entertaining  speaker;  but  one  will 
look  long  for  a  church  whose  pastor  has  met  the 
responsibility  for  the  biblical  instruction  which 
is  not,  and  will  not  remain,  virile. 

In  a  single  sentence :   The  pastor  must  be  the 
teacher  of  teachers. 


PART  II 
THE  SCHOOL 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  REQUIREMENTS  OF  A  GRADED  SCHOOL. 
When  we  pass  from  questions  that  pertain  to  the  What  is 

1         r     1  1  •  1       •  1-1  meant  by 

work  of  the  teacher  in  relation  to  his  class  to  grading 
those  which  pertain  to  the  school  at  large,  there 
is  no  topic  of  greater  importance  from  the  dis- 
tinctly educational  point  of  view  than  that  of  the 
grading  of  the  school.  By  this  we  mean  the 
grouping  together  of  pupils  for  the  purpose  of 
instruction,  and  the  adaptation  to  the  classes  thus 
formed  of  subject-matter  to  be  taught  and  the 
method  of  teaching.  Every  school  has  some  sys- 
tem of  grading.  No  school  puts  four-year-old 
children  and  white-haired  grandfathers  into  the 
same  class.  But  this  is  almost  the  only  general 
statement  on  this  subject  that  can  be  made  re- 
specting the  Sunday  school  as  it  is  today.  Scarce- 
ly anything  in  the  whole  work  of  the  Sunday 
school  is  in  greater  chaos  than  this  matter  of 
grading.  In  many  schools,  probably  in  most, 
personal  friendship  between  pupils,  personal  at- 
tachment existing,  or  supposed  to  exist,  between 
pupils  and  teacher,  have  far  greater  influence  in 
determining  what  pupils  shall  constitute  a  class 
than  any  other  consideration.     Incidentally  this 

123 


124  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

is    likely    to    bring    together    pupils    of    about 

the   same    age.     In  very   few    schools    is    there 

any    distinct    recognition  of  the  relative    grade 

Grading  as       of  classes.     In  a  roug^h  way  classes  are    srrad- 

it  exists  o  J  tj 

ed  by  the  assignment  to  them  of  a  primary, 
intermediate,  advanced,  or  senior  quarterly.  But 
beyond  this  no  one  can  tell  what  is  the  grade, 
relative  or  fixed,  of  ajiy  class.  In  most  schools 
there  is,  aside  perhaps  from  the  classes  in  the 
primary  department,  not  only  no  attempt  to  adapt 
the  material  chosen  from  the  Bible  for  study  to 
the  several  grades  of  classes,  but  there  is  a  fixed 
policy  not  to  make  any  such  adjustment,  but  on 
principle  to  have  all  the  classes  study  the  same 
Scripture  passage  on  any  given  Sunday.  In  the 
matter  of  adaptation  of  method  of  teaching  to  the 
age  and  progress  of  the  pupils  the  situation  is 
perhaps  not  quite  so  chaotic.  The  editors  of  the 
lesson-helps  seek,  of  cburse,  to  adapt  the  method 
of  teaching  suggested  in  a  given  quarterly  to  pu- 
pils of  that  age  for  which  the  particular  quarterly 
is  intended,  and  each  teacher  who  has  any  skill 
in  teaching  aims  to  adapt  the  work  to  his  own 
Difference  of  class.  It  is  upon  thcse  two  elements  that  we 
iTiesson  "°  must  always  rely  for  adaptation  in  method.  But 
even  in  this  the  situation  is  far  from  ideal.  Not 
only  are  the  lesson  helps  too  often  very  unskil- 
fully "graded,"  but  there  is  a  lamentable  lack  of 
pedagogical   skill    in    the   construction    of    any 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  125 

grade.  This  defect  is  most  serious  in  the  higher 
grades.  Teachers  of  advanced  classes,  influ- 
enced as  all  teachers  are,  save  the  few  who  have 
a  real  genius  for  teaching,  by  the  text-book 
which  is  put  into  their  hands,  too  often  regard 
their  duty  as  having  been  fulfilled  when  half  an 
hour  has  been  filled  with  asking  questions  printed  The  case  of 
upon  a  lesson  sheet.  Were  these  questions  al-  pup^g 
ways  such  as  are  calculated  to  inspire  interest  in 
either  teacher  or  pupils  the  case  would  be  more 
hopeful,  but  too  often  they  are  perfunctory  and 
inane.  The  high-school  pupil  loses  his  respect 
for  the  Bible  and  religion  when  the  same  person 
who  teaches  him  with  an  evident  mastery  of  his 
subject  during  the  week  undertakes  a  similar  serv- 
ice on  Sunday  with  the  aid  of  cut-and-dried 
questions  which  answer  themselves.  The  wider 
one's  knowledge  of  the  average  Sunday-school 
instruction,  the  more  convinced  will  one  be  that 
modern  pedagogy  has  not  been  allowed  to  fur- 
nish much  help  in  the  conduct  of  Sunday-school 
classes  composed  of  young  men  and  women. 

Too  often  the  case  of  the  adult  classes  is  The  case  of 
worse.  Many  schools  believe  grown  men  and  ^<^"'' classes 
women  are  no  longer  in  need  of  instruction  in  the 
Bible,  and  therefore  do  not  attempt  to  organize 
classes  for  their  benefit.  Often  when  such  classes 
are  formed  their  members,  men  and  women  who 
think  independently  and  resultfuUy  upon  subjects 


126  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

which  they  confess  are  of  far  less  importance 
than  the  Bible,  are  content  to  answer  questions 
which,  excepting  those  involving  some  theology 
or  philosophy,  could  be  answered  as  well  by 
their  children  or  grandchildren. 
The  causes  What  is  the  cause  of  this  state  of  affairs,  which 

of  gra^ding^:^*^^  wc  cannot  but  regard  as  thoroughly  unsatisfactory 
and  unworthy  of  the  Book  we  teach  and  the 
religion  we  inculcate  ?  Two  facts  furnish  the 
chief  explanation:  First,  the  Sunday  school,  as 
was    almost    of    necessity    the    case,    came  into 

1.  The  origin  existcnce    as   an  ungraded   school.     Our  public 

of  the  .     .  ^  ^ 

Sunday  school  schools  Originated  in  the  same  way.  This  his- 
toric fact  is  no  reflection  on  the  one  or  the  other. 
The  world  was  chaos  before  it  became  a  cosmos. 
The  difference  is  that,  while  our  public  schools 
long  ago  left  behind  this  original  chaotic  ^state, 
the  Sunday  school  has  advanced  in  this  respect 
only  a  little  beyond  the  point  from  which  it 
started.  Yet  what  city  school,  what  country 
school,  now  groups  its  pupils  according  to  per- 
sonal friendship,  places  a  given  class  under  the 
same  teacher  for  a  period  of  years,  takes  up 
each  year  new  subjects  to  be  studied  by  the 
whole  school,  without  reference  to  any  standard 
curriculum  or  principle  of  progress  ? 

2.  The  desire         The  second  fact  is  the  powerful  influence  of 

for  interna-  ...  .  . .  . 

tionai  lessons  the  pimciple  of  uniformity,  t,  e.,  the  use  of  the 
same    lesson   by   the  whole  school   and   by  all 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  127 

schools  throughout  the  world.  The  adoption 
of  this  principle  ha-s  had  a  most  powerful  influ- 
ence in  stimulating  the  growth  of  Sunday  schools, 
partly  by  its  appeal  to  sentiment,  partly  by  its 
facilitation  of  the  publication  of  lesson  helps. 
But  it  has  at  the  same  time  operated  most  pow- 
erfully to  perpetuate  the  existence  of  the  un- 
graded Sunday  school.  Is  this  condition  of  things 
to  continue  ?  As  we  have  said,  no  educational 
question  pertaining  to  the  Sunday  school  at  large 
is  of  more  vital  importance  today  than  this. 

The  issue   is   primarily  between   two  distinct  Two  ideas  of 
conceptions  of  what  the  course  of  study  in  a  Sun-  schoo?"  ^^ 
day  school  should  be.     Shall  uniformity  be  the  curriculum 
dominant  idea  of  the  Sunday  school  curriculum, 
and  shall  all  the  school,  and  if  possible  all  schools 
the  world  over,   study  the  same  lesson  on   the 
same  day  ?     Or  shall  the    course  of  instruction 
be  graded,  as  in  all  other  schools  today  —  graded, 
that  is,  not  only  in  the  treatment  of  the  material, 
but   also  in   the  selection  of  the  material  to  be 
treated  ? 

It  is,  indeed,  possible  to  consider  an  inter-  a  mediating 
mediate  plan  of  graded  classes,  with  uniform  P°^^''^'^'^y 
lessons  graded  only  in  respect  to  method  of  in- 
struction. Such  a  compromise  maybe  necessary 
as  a  transition  step  to  a  genuine  graded  curricu- 
lum, or  may  perhaps  be  found  to  combine  all  the 
advantages  of  uniformity  and  grading.     But  the 


128  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

real    choice    must  be    between  the  two   sharply 
distinguished  ideals. 
Advantages  of        Now,   the  advantages   of  uniformity  are  un- 

uniformity  ,       ,         n  t  ••111 

doubtedly  great.  It  secures  unity  m  the  school, 
enabling  the  teachers  to  co-operate  in  the  study 
of  the  lesson,  and  giving  the  superintendent  an 
opportunity  to  direct  and  stimulate  the  work  of 
instruction  throughout  the  school.  It  secures 
unity  in  the  home,  making  it  possible  for  the 
father  or  the  mother  to  assist  and  guide  in  the 
study  of  the  lesson  at  home  by  the  whole  family 
from  youngest  to  oldest,  and  facilitating  the 
association  of  family  prayer  with  the  study  of 
the  Bible  in  the  Sunday  school.  It  immensely 
facilitates  the  preparation  and  publication  of 
helps  on  the  part  of  religious  papers  and  in  the 
form  of  quarterlies  and  lesson  papers.  It  enlists 
on  the  side  of  Bible  study  in  the  Sunday  school 
an  immense  capital  of  brains  and  money.  It 
appeals  powerfully  to  sentiment,  and  secures  the 
help  of  that  important  ally.  The  superintendent 
and  teacher  in  every  city  and  hamlet  in  the  land, 
the  parent  in  every  home,  even  the  child  him- 
self, feels,  or  may  feel,  the  stimulus  and  inspira- 
tion of  the  fact  that  the  prayerful  thought  of  the 
Christian  world  is  turning  with  him  to  the  portion 
of  Scripture  assigned  for  a  certain  Sunday's 
study. 

But  the  graded  curriculum  has  its  advantages 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  129 

too,  and  they  are  of  the  greatest  importance  Advantages 
from  an  educational  point  of  view.  The  selection  currkubm 
of  material,  not  on  the  principle  of  engaging  the 
whole  Christian  world  in  the  study  of  a  given 
portion  at  the  same  time,  but  on  that  of  giving 
each  class  or  grade  of  scholars  in  each  school 
the  material  best  adapted  to  their  age  and  stage 
of  advancement,  and  of  so  arranging  the  course 
both  in  respect  to  material  and  method  of  study 
as  to  constitute  an  orderly  and  progressive  course 
of  study,  is  the  only  method  which  can  make  our 
Sunday  schools  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term  edu- 
cational institutions.  This  method  adapts  the 
material  to  the  capacity  of  the  scholar,  avoiding 
the  absurdity  of  setting  children  six  years  old 
to  studying  the  pastoral  epistles  or  the  book  of 
Revelation.  It  secures  the  study  of  the  different 
portions  of  the  Bible  in  the  best  order,  taking 
into  account  both  the  relation  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  Bible  to  one  another  and  the  varying 
needs,  capacities,  and  critical  periods  in  the  de- 
velopment of  pupils  of  different  ages.  It  will  re- 
sult in  giving  to  each  pupil  who  completes  the 
course  a  connected  and  related  knowledge  of  the 
whole  Bible  and  of  its  teaching  taken  as  a  whole, 
instead  of  the  distorted  and  disconnected  view 
which  the  system  of  uniformity  too  often  gives. 
Which  system  shall  we  choose ;  or  rather,  to- 
ward which   shall  we  work  ?      For  we   scarcely 


I30  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

possess  the  literature  today  that  makes  a  choice 
possible  at  once.  The  answer  will  depend  in  the 
end  upon  which  of  two  conceptions  we  hold  of 
the  Bible  and  of  the  purpose  of  the  Sunday 
Choice  as        school.     On  the  one  side,  if  the  Bible  is  alike  in 

arrected  by  our 

conception  all  its  parts,  and  equally  valuable  in  them  all, 
afanhSoHcai  ^^cing  useful  simply  for  the  moral  and  religious 
record  and  preccpts  or  thcological  propositions  which  can  be 
directly  culled  from  it,  or  gained  by  a  species 
of  allegorical  interpretation,  then  the  advantages 
of  the  system  of  uniformity  will  probably  out- 
weigh in  our  minds  those  of  a  graded  educational 
curriculum.  For  if  the  loaf  is  of  uniform  qual- 
ity through,  and  equally  adapted  to  child  and 
grandparent,  why  trouble  ourselves  to  select  here 
a  piece  for  one  class  and  here  another  for  another? 
But  if  the  Bible  is  the  history  of  a  progressive 
revelation,  and  if,  for  this  reason,  it  yields  its  best 
results  alike  intellectually  and  religiously  when  it 
is  studied  with  due  reference  to  the  relation  of  part 
to  part,  and  to  the  unfolding  of  the  great  divine 
plan  and  revelation  that  runs  through  it,  then  we 
shall  give  our  suffrages  to  the  graded  curriculum 
in  preference  to  the  system  of  uniformity. 

In  saying  this  it  is  by  no  means  implied  that 
the  whole  curriculum  should  be  dominated  by  the 
aim  to  teach  history  in  the  chronological  order. 
The  best  starting-point  for  the  study  of  history  is 
not  necessarily  its  earliest  event.     Nor  does  an 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  131 

education  necessarily  begin  with  the  study  of  his- 
tory. But  a  graded  curriculum  will  make  provision 
both  for  whatever  study  of  the  Bible  ought,  for 
the  younger  children,  to  precede  a  treatment  of 
it  from  a  historical  point  of  view,  and  for  due 
recognition  in  the  later  stages  of  the  curriculum 
of  the  historical  character  of  the  book  and  the 
progressive  character  of  the  revelation  made  in  it. 

If,  again,  we  conceive  of  Sunday-school  teach-  as  affected  by 
ing  as  essentially  preaching,  that  is,  primarily  ^f'jhe^sun'da" 
intended  for  the  purpose  of  persuading  to  action,  school 
rather  than  of  instructing  and  so  leading  in- 
directly to  action  and  the  development  of  char- 
acter, especially  if  we  carry  this  so  far  as  to  hold 
that  the  more  the  element  of  exhortation  pre- 
dominates over  that  of  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge the  more  truly  the  Sunday  school  realizes 
its  ideal,  then  we  shall  see  little  advantage  in 
a  graded  curriculum,  and  the  real  advantages  of 
uniformity  will  lead  us  to  decide  for  the  system 
of  which  that  is  the  dominating  thought.  But 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  we  believe  that  the  Sunday 
school  is  an  educational  institution,  in  which  the 
moral  and  spiritual  end  is  supreme,  but  the 
agency  employed  is  distinctly  educational ;  if  we 
hold  that  the  church  ought  to  have  one  service 
in  which  the  great  moral  and  religious  end  of  the 
church  itself  shall  be  sought  distinctly  through 
biblical  instruction,  and  that  the  Sunday  school 


132  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

shall  be  that  service  —  then  we  shall  decide  that  in 
it  the  best  educational  methods  ought  to  be  em- 
ployed, and  that  the  Sunday  school  ought  to  have 
a  curriculum,  not  merely  lessons  used  at  the  same 
time  by  all  the  pupils  from  the  child  to  the  adult. 
On  which  Which  side  of  this  question  the  church  will 

decision  will  be  ultimately  take  we  have  no  doubt  whatever. 
The  uniform  system  has  accomplished  great  re- 
sults for  the  Sunday  school.  But  for  this  very 
reason  in  an  increasing  number  of  schools  it  will 
be  the  stepping-stone  to  something  still  better. 
It  is  not  true  that  the  Bible  is  of  homogeneous 
character  throughout,  so  that  all  parts  of  it  are 
equally  adapted  to  the  instruction  of  children  of 
every  age,  and  that  it  is  of  no  consequence  at 
which  end  the  child  begins  to  learn  it.  Let  it  be 
granted  that  almost  any  portion  of  Scripture  may 
be  made  to  suggest  something  that  will  be  useful 
to  a  pupil  of  any  age  ;  yet  the  attempt  to  use 
certain  portions  of  Scripture  for  the  instruction 
of  the  younger  children,  for  example,  inevitably 
results  either  in  the  maltreatment  of  the  Scrip- 
ture or  the  confusion  of  the  child,  and  usually  in 
both ;  while  the  limitation  of  the  selection  to 
those  portions  which  can  be  used  by  the  whole 
school,  including  the  youngest  pupils,  means 
such  a  curtailing  of  the  course  of  study  as  inev- 
itably drives  the  older  scholars  out  of  the  school. 
Especially  harmful  is  such  a  method  because 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  133 

it  renders  it  impossible  to  give  to  the  pupil  any  The  influence 
connected  and  true  conception  of  the  organic  curriculum  on 
unity  and  progressive  unfolding  of  divine  revela-  ^*  pt^'^ 

conception  of 

tion.  A  chaotic  curriculum  issues  in  chaotic  the  Bible 
conceptions  of  the  Bible.  What  would  be  said  of 
the  argument  that,  because  it  is  possible  to  teach 
something  about  geometry  to  any  pupil  from  five 
years  to  twenty  years  of  age,  therefore  geometry 
ought  to  be  made  in  a  given  year  or  term  the  sub- 
ject of  study  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  our 
public-school  system?  And  yet  almost  every  argu- 
ment that  can  be  urged  for  uniform  lessons  in  the 
Sunday  school  might  be  urged  for  such  a  course 
in  the  public  schools. 

The  truth  is  that  the  Sunday  school  is  lagging 
far  behind  the  public  school  in  educational 
method,  and  stands  today  too  nearly  on  the  level 
of  the  old  ungraded  district  school.  If  the  study 
of  the  Bible  is  of  less  importance  than  the  study 
of  mathematics,  if  religious  culture  is  less  necessary 
than  secular,  then  the  Sunday  school  may  perhaps 
afford  to  be  at  the  rear  end  of  the  educational  pro- 
cession, employing  antiquated  and  ineffective 
methods  for  sentimental  reasons.  But  if  the  Bible 
is  the  book  the  Christian  church  believes  it  to  be, 
if  religion  is  a  determinative  and  fundamental 
thing  in  life,  then  the  Sunday  school  ought  to  ap- 
propriate and  employ  the  best  known  educational 
methods.     Not  to  do  so  is  a  crime  against  re- 


134 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Possible 
lessons  for 
various  grades 
of  school 
children 


ligion,  an  insult  to  the  Book.  Is  it  not  worth  while 
to  teach  the  Bible  as  well  as  we  teach  arithmetic 
and  geography,  to  give  as  good  instruction  in  the 
things  of  the  soul  and  the  life  to  come  as  in  those 
of  the  counting-house  and  commerce  ?  Uni- 
formity has  its  advantages,  but  they  may  be 
purchased  at  too  high  a  price. 

If  these  contentions  are  just,  some  practical 
conclusions  follow.  In  the  first  place,  the  inter- 
mediate plan  of  uniform  lessons  and  graded 
classes  and  methods  is  only  a  compromise,  by  no 
means  the  final  or  ideal  system.  The  most  im- 
portant advantages  of  a  graded  system  are 
secured  only  by  a  graded  course  of  study.  It  is 
not  enough  simply  to  have  questions  of  increasing 
difficulty  upon  the  same  lesson  assigned  to  differ- 
ent classes.  There  are  some  subjects  which  the 
public  schools  would  not  teach  pupils  of  different 
grades.  No  more  should  the  Sunday  school,  if 
it  would  hope  to  gain  the  best  results,  undertake 
to  teach  in  different  ways  the  same  lesson  to 
infants  and  adults.  The  passage  that  to  the 
man  or  woman  might  be  of  greatest  interest, 
to  the  child  might  be  unintelligible,  and  to  a 
less  degree  the  converse  is  true.  The  child 
lives  in  the  world  of  sense.  Let  him  have  the 
incomparable  stories  in  which  the  Hebrew  writers 
set  forth  truth.  He  will  see  the  lesson  which 
the  story  enforces  without  any  great   need   of 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  135 

mechanical    devices.     The   pupils    of   the    high  The  case  of 

,         ,     , .  .  .  ...  .  r      t  •    .  pupils  of  the 

school  live  in  the  stimulating  air  or  history  high-school 
and  mathematics,  of  literature  and  elementary  ^e^ 
science  —  in  a  world  of  new  facts  and  new 
instruction.  For  them  there  is  the  history  of  the 
Jews  and  of  the  church,  the  study  of  scriptural 
biography  in  the  light  of  modern  research.  It  is 
a  study,  if  only  it  be  taught  rationally  by  even  a 
moderately  informed  teacher,  quite  as  interesting 
as  that  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  alive  with  the 
most  practical  and  vital  teaching  for  the  conduct 
of  life.  Once  let  such  subjects  be  taught  by 
methods  followed  in  the  best  public  schools  to 
which  the  members  of  the  Sunday-school  class 
belong,  and  an  end  will  come  to  indifference  and 
contempt. 

The  adult  classes  present  few  new  difficulties  The  adult 
when  once  the  general  principle  be  recognized  of 
adapting  the  subject-matter  and  the  method  of 
teaching  to  the  pupil.  Men  and  women  are  in- 
terested in  matters  that  are  at  once  practical  and 
abstract.  They  are  not  greatly  interested  in 
stories  or  facts  as  such ;  they  wish  to  see  always 
the  relation  of  doctrine  to  life  and  of  God 
to  man.  Such  lessons  should  be  chosen  as 
meet  this  demand.  While  a  child  may  be  allowed 
to  picture  scattered  events,  or  study  scattered 
passages,  the  member  of  an  adult  class  soon  gets 
a  distaste  by  such  study  and  leaves  the  school. 


136  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

Were  the  lessons  more  adapted  to  their  wants  — 
studies  of  entire  books,  of  the  modern  bearing  of 
scriptural  teachings,  of  special  doctrines,  of  the 
teachings  of  different  books  upon  the  same  sub- 
ject, of  history  and  biography  —  we  should  find 
men  and  women  everywhere  interested  in  their 
Bibles,  and  the  adult  classes  constituting  a  proper 
proportion  of  the  school.  It  is  not  extempora- 
neous exhortation,  or  vague  moralizing,  or  the 
asking  of  printed  questions  that  such  classes 
want,  but  intellectual  life  as  virile  and  as  honest 
as  that  in  which  their  members  live  during  the 
week. 
The  first  But,  in  the  second  place,  as  a  useful  temporary 

forwarrstep  expedient  and  a  first  step  toward  a  graded  course 
of  study,  there  may  wisely  be  adopted  a  system 
of  graded  classes  in  each  department  of  the 
school.  Thus,  assuming  that  the  school  is 
divided  into  Elementary,  Secondary,  and  Adult 
Divisions,  there  may  be  selected  for  each  divi- 
sion a  course  of  lessons  based  on  Scripture 
material  adapted  to  the  age  of  the  pupils  in  that 
division,  considered  as  a  whole.  Then  in  each 
division  the  pupils  may  be  grouped  in  graded 
classes,  all  studying  the  same  lesson,  each  class 
bearing  a  grade  number  and  composed  of  pupils 
who  can  be  profitably  taught  together.  In  this 
case  the  principle  of  uniformity  holds  within  each 
division,  as  all  the  pupils  are  studying  the  same 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  137 

lesson.  At  the  same  time  they  are  so  grouped 
that  all  those  of  about  the  same  age  and  acquire- 
ments are  taught  together.  Thus  the  method  of 
teaching  may  be  adapted  to  each  group,  and 
pupils  may  pass  from  one  class  to  another,  by  a 
change  either  of  teachers  or  of  teaching  methods 
or  of  both.  In  the  case  of  young  people  a 
provisional  basis  of  grading  is  at  hand  in  that 
of  the  public  schools.  To  a  certain  extent  all 
grading  is  necessarily  arbitrary,  but  if  classes 
were  so  arranged  that  there  would  be  no  mix- 
ing of  pupils  of  widely  different  grades  in  the 
public  schools,  they  would  acquire  a  unity  that 
would  more  than  compensate  for  the  breaking  of 
family  groups  or  the  separation  of  acquaintances. 
At  the  same  time  the  teacher  would  better  under- 
stand the  limits  and  the  possibilities  of  the  pupil, 
as  well  as  be  aided  in  finding  the  common  intel- 
lectual ground  so  indispensable  for  successful 
teaching. 

The  administration  of  a  school  graded  either  Administra- 
on  the  true  basis,  the  biblical  knowleds^e  of  the  '^^"""/c    j 

°  graded  Sunday 

pupil,  or  provisionally  by  their  grade  in  the  pub-  school 
lie  school,  would  be  ideal  only  when  each  depart- 
ment could  meet  by  itself  and  conduct  its 
instruction  along  the  lines  it  has  discovered  most 
effective.  The  adult  class  may  occasionally  like  to 
share  in  general  exercises  that  reduce  the  teach- 
ing period  to  a  few  minutes,  but,  as  a  rule,  they 


138 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  question 
of  teachers 
and 
promotions 


A  second 
step 


require  more  time  for  discussion  than  younger 
classes,  and  care  very  little  for  singing  and  decla- 
mations and  marches.  To  reduce  their  time 
causes  as  much  difficulty  as  the  lengthening  of 
the  teaching  period  brings  to  a  teacher  struggling 
with  a  class  of  uneasy  boys.  But  where  it  is  im- 
possible for  each  department  to  meet  separately 
in  its  own  room  or  rooms,  it  will  still  be  possible 
for  the  essential  principle  to  be  observed ;  the 
young  children,  the  school  children,  and  the  adult 
classes  each  having  their  own  lesson  topic. 

Whether  or  not  pupils  should  pass  up  from 
one  teacher  to  another,  or  whether  teachers  should 
change  their  methods  as  their  classes  grow  older, 
is  a  question  that  will  probably  require  answer 
according  to  particular  cases.  In  some  instances 
it  is  evident  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  same 
teacher  to  keep  a  class,  but,  in  general,  there  is 
much  in  favor  of  pupils  passing  from  one  teacher 
to  another  as  they  are  promoted  from  one  grade 
to  another ;  for  not  only  does  this  give  the  pupil 
a  special  sense  of  advance,  but  it  enables  teachers 
to  become  competent  in  handling  pupils  of  each 
grade.  And  it  is  only  in  effective  teaching  that 
the  efficiency  of  any  school  lies. 

A  second  step,  which  still  falls  short  of  the 
ideal,  may  also  be  taken,  by  some  schools  at 
least.  In  one  or  two  cases  publishing  houses 
have  already  issued,  or  arranged  from  their  pre- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  139 

vious  publications,  the  text-books  for  a  complete 
curriculum.  This  is  a  hopeful  sign  for  the  future 
and  a  help  for  the  immediate  present.  If  any 
school  should  not  find  these  series  altogether 
satisfactory  it  is  still  possible  for  a  discreet  com- 
mittee to  select  from  the  publications  of  various 
publishers  the  material  for  such  a  graded  cur- 
riculum as  it  may  judge  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
the  school.  This  plan  has  already  proved  suc- 
cessful in  a  number  of  our  best  schools. 

But  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  ideal  litera-  The  duty  of 
ture  is  yet  to  be  produced.     There   is  not  yet  f^^u^ur"^, 
even  agreement  as  to  the  precise  character  of  the  scholars: 
course  of  study  itself.   We  cannot  spring  at  once  cm-rkuium 
into  a  perfectly  organized  curriculum.  If  the  Sun-   ^°^  ^^^    , 

Sunday  school 

day  school  ought  to  seek  the  high  end  which 
belongs  to  it  in  common  with  every  other  agency 
of  the  church,  the  creation  and  development  of 
Christian  character,  by  distinctly  educational 
means,  and  those  the  best,  then  to  someone  there 
belongs  the  duty  of  framing  an  intelligently  con- 
structed curriculum  for  the  study  of  the  Bible  in 
the  Sunday  school,  and  to  someone  that  of  pre- 
paring suitable  literature  for  the  study  and  teach- 
ing of  it  in  accordance  with  such  a  curriculum. 
If  no  one  is  wise  enough  to  do  this  to-day,  if  we 
do  not  even  know  what  the  curriculum  ought  to 
be,  then  we  must  begin  still  farther  back  and 
take  up  the  study  of  the  problem  and  the  collec- 


I40  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

And  also  of  tion  of  the  data  which  will  enable  us  to  construct 
pu  IS  ers  ^^  least  a  provisional  curriculum.  Of  that  great 
capital  of  money  and  brains  and  spiritual  zeal 
which  is  now  going  into  the  preparation  of  a  lit- 
erature which,  however  able  and  scholarly  and 
devout,  is  based  on  an  antiquated  educational 
method,  is  there  not  some  part  that  can  be 
devoted  to  the  elevation  of  Sunday-school  instruc- 
tion, to  bringing  it  up  at  least  to  the  level  of  our 
none  too  perfect  public-school  system? 


CHAPTER  11. 

THE   CONSTRUCTION   OF  A  GRADED 
CURRICULUM. 

To  SAY  that  the  Sunday  school   ought  to  have  a  Theconstruc- 

...  ,  •  ,  ,      .     tion  of  a 

graded  curriculum   is   one  thing ;  to  show  what  graded 
that  curriculum  should  be  is  another  and  a  more  curriculum 

must  at 

difficult  task.  One  is  compelled  to  work  here  present  be 
almost  without  precedent  or  experience,  and  '^"^^^'^^ 
must  fall  back  on  general  principles  and  analogies 
derived  from  the  secular  education,  where  a  cur- 
riculum has  already  been  worked  out,  aided  by 
what  little  experience  has  already  been  had. 
Any  attempts  at  the  shaping  of  a  course  of  study 
for  the  Sunday  school  must  be  regarded  as  ten- 
tative, and  will  undoubtedly  be  revised  by  ex- 
perience. Nevertheless  it  seems  necessary  to 
make  the  attempt. 

What  should  such  a  course  of  study  aim  to  what  shall  be 
accomplish?  And  what  are  the  principles  on  on^whichV^ 
which  it  should  be  constructed?  is  based? 

Again  we  must  recur  to  the  fundamental 
proposition  that,  while  the  ultimate  aim  of  the 
Sunday  school  is  religious — the  creation  and  de- 
velopment of  Christian  character  in  the  pupils — 
its  proximate  aim  is  educational,  being  chiefly 

141 


142 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


the  impartation  to  the  pupil  of  true  and  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  Bible.  If  this  is  the  right 
conception  of  the  purpose  of  the  Sunday  school, 
then  it  follows  that  the  curriculum  should  be  so 
The  principle  constructed  that  the  instruction  given  to  pupils 
of  each  grade  should  not  only  be  adapted  both 
to  the  intellectual  advancement  and  to  the  reli- 
gious needs  of  the  pupils  of  that  grade,  but  that 
it  should  contribute  in  the  highest  degree  both 
to  the  steady  acquisition  of  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  Bible  and  to  the  creation  and  devel- 
opment of  Christian  character. 

This  means  that  the  Sunday  school  should 
have  a  curriculum  of  biblical  study  as  thoroughly 
graded  and  constructed  on  as  precise  pedagogi- 
cal principles  and  as  thorough  psychological 
knowledge  as  the  best  curriculum  which  has 
been  devised  or  can  be  devised  for  the  secular 
schools. 

But  while  thus  characterizing  the  curriculum 
of  the  Sunday  school  as  biblical,  we  cannot  insist 
that  it  shall  confine  itself  absolutely  to  the  Bible. 
Throughout  the  course  knowledge  derived  from 
the  Bible,  in  order  that  it  may  serve  the  religious 
purpose  of  the  school,  must  be  set  in  relation  to 
life.  On  the  other  hand,  contributory  instruction 
may  legitimately  be  drawn  from  sources  outside 
the  Bible ;  from  the  pupil's  own  experience  and 
observation  ;  from  those  of  the  teacher ;  and  from 


The  Bible 
and  the 
curriculum 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  143 

the  still  larger  experience  recorded  in  history 
and  reflected  in  literature.  In  the  Sunday  school, 
all  of  these  occupy  a  place  second  in  importance 
to  that  of  the  Bible,  but  in  them  all  divine  truth 
is  disclosed  and  may  be  brought  to  light.  All  of 
them,  therefore,  have  their  value  and  use,  espe- 
cially as  enabling  the  pupil  to  feel  the  corrobora- 
tive effect  of  concurrent  testimony  as  regards 
religious  and  moral  truth. 

The    extent     to    which    these    contributory  ^^^  ^^[  ^^^" 

"^      the  curricu- 

sources  of  instruction  should  be  employed  and  lum  recognize 
the  explicitness  with  which  the  application  of  '^^^y^^^~ 
truth  to  life  and  duty  should  be  pointed  out  will 
vary  greatly  in  different  parts  of  the  course.  In 
general,  the  younger  the  pupil,  the  more  neces- 
sary is  it  to  bring  truth  into  clear  and  explicit 
relation  to  his  life ;  the  older  he  is,  the  more 
safely  and  wisely  may  he  be  left  to  effect  this 
connection  for  himself.  In  the  kindergarten  it 
is  especially  necessary  to  set  the  truth,  whether 
drawn  from  the  Bible  or  from  the  revelation  in 
nature,  in  relation  with  the  actual  life  of  the 
child.  Yet  here  also  the  biblical  element  ought 
always  to  be  present.  The  kindergarten  teach- 
ers of  a  Sunday  school  should  bear  in  mind 
that  they  are  something  more  than  entertainers; 
something  more  than  inculcators  of  truth  in 
general.  However  much  they  may  employ 
things    and    events    familiar    to    the    child    as 


144 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  curricu- 
lum to  be 
selective 


The  elective 
system  in 
colleges 


suggesting  the  truth  or  its  application,  the  truths 
which  they  have  to  impress  are  those  which  are 
set  forth  in  the  Bible.  As  far  as  kindergarten 
methods  permit,  the  child  should  be  brought 
face  to  face  with  these  truths. 

But  shall  the  curriculum  of  a  school  cover  the 
whole  Bible  and  the  whole  field  of  biblical  study? 
Perhaps  this  would  be  the  ideal.  But  no  one  who 
has  even  an  approximately  adequate  notion  of 
the  breadth  and  depth  of  the  biblical  books,  and 
of  the  immensity  of  the  task  of  interpreting  them, 
first  as  units  and  then  as  successive  and  con- 
nected outcroppings  of  a  century-long  process  of 
divine  revelation,  can  for  a  moment  dream  that 
the  Sunday-school  curriculum,  with  its  one  short 
exercise  a  week,  can  cover  this  great  field.  The 
curriculum  must  proceed  on  a  principle  of  selec- 
tion. 

And  right  here  the  development  of  the  college 
curriculum  may  furnish  us  a  helpful  suggestion. 
As  the  field  of  modern  knowledge  has  grown  and 
new  subjects  have  knocked  for  admission  at  the 
door  of  the  college  curriculum,  the  colleges,  as  a 
rule,  have  not  found  it  expedient  either  wholly 
to  exclude  them  or  to  make  room  for  them  by 
excluding  the  older  occupants.  Room  has  been 
found  for  them  by  introducing  the  principle  of 
election.  The  advantages  of  this  method  need 
be  no  more  than  hinted  at  here,  some  of  them 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  145 

more  marked  in  the  case  of  the  Sunday-school  The  elective 
than  of  the  college.  In  the  first  place,  the  intro-  Sunday Tchooi 
duction  of  a  wide  range  of  subjects  is  an  advan- 
tage even  to  those  who  are  compelled  to  limit 
themselves  to  the  same  amount  of  work  which 
they  would  otherwise  have  done.  The  necessity 
of  choosing  between  different  courses,  or  the 
knowledge  that  others  are  pursuing  a  different 
course  from  that  which  he  is  himself  pursuing, 
broadens  the  pupil's  horizon  and  in  a  valuable, 
though  superficial,  way  increases  his  knowledge 
of  the  field  of  Bible  study.  Under  an  elective 
system,  again,  it  is  possible  to  adapt  instruction 
more  perfectly  to  individual  needs.  And,  finally, 
it  permits  the  student  who  will  remain  in  the 
school  year  after  year  to  be  always  moving  for- 
ward to  new  subjects  and  fields  of  study,  and  by 
this  very  fact  tends  to  hold  him  in  the  school 
when  otherwise  he  would  drift  away,  feeling  that 
he  had  gained  all  that  the  school  had  to  give  him. 

But  great  as  are  the  advantages  of  an  elective  Prescribed 
system,  the  Sunday-school  curriculum  cannot,  of 
course,  be  elective  throughout.  Aside  from  the 
fact  that  the  majority  of  the  pupils  who  have  not 
reached  adult  age  are  quite  unprepared  to  make 
a  wise  selection  of  courses,  it  is  evident  that  there 
are  some  fundamental  things  which  all  need  to 
learn  and  which  must  be  learned  as  the  basis  of 
more  advanced  elective  study. 


courses 


146 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  testi- 
mony of  the 
uniform 
system  at 
this  point 


General 
conclusion : 
The  course  to 
be  partly 
prescribed 
and  partly 
elective 


At  this  point  one  may  well  utilize  the  expe- 
rience gained  under  a  system  of  uniform  lessons. 
For  a  generation  Christendom  has  been  instruct- 
ing its  children  and  youth  in  what  earnest  men 
have  designated  as  material  that  should  be  known 
by  all  Christians.  The  system,  pedagogically  con- 
sidered, is  exposed  to  many  objections.  But,  in 
that  it  has  demanded  that  all  should  know  some- 
thing, and  in  so  far  as  it  has  required  that  this 
something  should  include  the  essential  elements 
of  the  biblical  material,  it  points  the  way  for 
further  progress.  Whatever  failures  may  have 
followed  the  attempt  to  make  this  system  of  uni- 
form lessons  permanent  rather  than  introduc- 
tory to  something  better,  its  efficiency  and  effects 
at  this  point  enforce  the  desirability  of  seeing 
that  sooner  or  later  all  pupils  study  the  same 
lessons. 

From  such  considerations  as  these  it  results, 
then,  that  the  first  part  of  the  course  must  be 
prescribed,  the  latter  part  elective.  Where  the 
line  should  be  drawn  may  be  matter  of  doubt, 
but  perhaps  no  better  arrangement  can  be  made 
than  this :  for  the  year  corresponding  to  the  ele- 
mentary and  secondary  divisions  of  the  secular 
education — that  is,  approximately  from  the  sixth 
to  the  eighteenth  year  of  the  pupil's  life — let  the 
course  be  prescribed ;  for  the  subsequent  years 
let  it  be  elective. 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  147 

What,  now,  shall  be   the   governing  principle  Principles 
of  the  prescribed   course?     Four    factors    must  prescribed 
be  taken  into  account  :  the  formative  and  devel-  ^^^^^^ 
oping  character  of   the  years  during  which  the 
pupil  is  pursuing  this  course ;  the  fundamental 
principles   of  biblical   study   as    determined    by 
the  nature  of  the  Bible  ;  the  fact  that  the  pre- 
scribed courses  are  all  that  will  be  pursued  in 
common  by   all   the  pupils,  and  that  they  must 
therefore  serve  as  the  basis  of  the  future  diver- 
sified work;  the  certainty  of  spiritual  crises  in  the 
life  of  the  pupil  during  the  years  he  is  pursuing 
the  prescribed  courses. 

As  respects  the  first  point,  it  must  be  remem-  The  progress 

1  •       .  r      1  -11  in  the  secular 

bered  that  the  majority  or  the  pupils  who  pur-  education 
sue  the  prescribed  course  will  be  in  the  same  ^^^  ^^^ 
year  advancing  through  the  elementary  and 
secondary  schools  in  their  secular  education. 
In  the  latter  part  of  this  period  they  will  be 
pupils  in  the  high  school,  and  their  course  will 
include  the  study  of  history,  in  all  cases  the 
history  of  the  United  States,  in  a  large  propor- 
tion of  cases  that  of  some  other  country  also,  as 
of  England  or  of  Egypt,  Greece,  and   Rome. 

As  respects  the  second  point,   we   have  en-  The  character 
deavored  to  show   in  previous    chapters  of  this 
book  that  the  deepest  insight  into  and  broadest 
outlook    upon  the    meaning    of   the    Bible,    the 
truest  conception  of  the  basis  of  its  authority,  is 


148  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

The  necessity  to  be  gained  by  a  thoroughly  historical  study  of 
bfhe^'"^       it.     It    is    through    the    biblical   history    in    the 
curriculum       broadcst  seuse  of  the  term  that  the  divine  reve- 
lation is  most  clearly  revealed  and  most  clearly 
seen  to  be  divine. 

But  if  this  be  so,  then,  in  view  of  the  third 
consideration  named  above,  the  prescribed  course 
should  culminate,  intellectually  speaking,  in  a 
broad  historical  view  of  the  Bible. 

Yet  it  is  equally  manifest  that  it  cannot  be- 
gin where  it  ends.  Facts  in  isolation  must  pre- 
cede facts  in  relation.  And  the  work  of  the 
elementary  division  must  be  in  no  small  measure 
the  acquisition  by  the  pupil  of  those  facts  which 
in  the  latter  portion  of  his  prescribed  course  are 
to  form  the  basis  of  a  true  historical  study.  Still 
more  needful  is  it  to  remember  that  in  these 
earlier  years  the  child  is  susceptible  to  religious 
impressions  and  that  the  instruction  should  be 
such  as  to  lodge  in  his  mind,  or  rather  impress 
on  his  heart,  the  elemental  principles  of  religion 
and  conduct.  We  come,  therefore,  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  prescribed  course,  covering  the  ten 
to  fourteen  years  of  the  elementary  and  second- 
ary divisions  —  approximately  the  years  from  five 
to  eighteen  in  the  pupil's  life  —  should  begin  with 
the  simpler  stories  of  the  Bible  and  the  more  ele- 
mentary truths  of  biblical  teaching  :  it  should 
move  toward  and  aim  at  the  acquisition  of  a  sys- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  149 

tematic  knowledge  of  biblical  history,  including 
in  this  term  the  history  and  interpretation  both 
of  events  and  teachings. 

The  fourth  fact,  that  of  the  recurrence  of  spir-  Spiritual  crises 

...  1111-  demand 

itual  crises,  demands  that  the  subjects  of  study  appropriate 
should  be  adjusted  to  the  stages  of  religious  ^"^°°^ 
growth.  It  is  here  that  one  especially  realizes 
that  the  boy  and  girl,  quite  as  much  as  the  mere 
child,  is  to  be  considered.  Further,  it  must  never 
be  forgotten  that  moral  and  religous  growth  is 
possible  only  as  a  result  of  successive  deci- 
sions ;  and  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  such 
decisions  are  accompanied  with  no  small  intro- 
spection, and  often  with  actual  moral  struggle. 
The  psychology  of  religion  enables  us  to  treat 
this  matter  with  such  precision  that  conversion 
has  come  to  have  a  distinct  pedagogical  signifi- 
cance. Speaking  generally,  these  crises  come  in 
the  periods  of  early  adolescence  and  of  early 
maturity.  While  certain  individual  experiences 
will  always  prove  exceptions  to  this  statement, 
the  curriculum  here,  as  always,  must  conform  to 
what  statistics  show  to  be  general  tendencies. 
The  lessons  intended  for  the  years  in  which  such 
crises  may  be  expected  should  be  especially 
adapted  to  move  pupils  to  the  right  spiritual  de- 
cisions. In  the  case  of  boys  and  girls,^  the 
hindrances  to  the  correct  decision  spring  less 
from    doubt   than    from    indiff&rence   to    ideals. 


ISO 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Genera] 
scheme : 

I .    Kinder- 
garten 


2,  The  next 
three  years 


Nothing  will  overcome  such  indifference  like  the 
appeal  made  by  life.  Let  the  lessons,  therefore, 
be  chiefly  biographical.  In  the  second  period  of 
crises,  that  of  the  maturing  life  of  the  youth,  the 
difficulties  are  pretty  generally  due  to  actual 
moral  deadness  or  to  intellectual  doubts.  Clearly 
for  such  a  period  biographical  lessons  should  be 
supplemented  by  those  setting  forth  biblical 
teaching.  Between  these  two  periods  of  crises 
the  lessons  may  most  fitly  give  the  pupils  ma- 
terials that  shall  develop  a  life  openly  Christian 
or  inculcate  such  truths  as  will  make  more  cer- 
tain the  decision  for  Christian  profession  in  the 
second  period  of  crises. 

These  considerations  ^suggest  the  following 
general  scheme  for  a  graded  curriculum : 

1.  In  the  kindergarten  the  instruction  must  of 
course  be  viva  voce.  The  aim  of  the  teacher 
must  be  to  lodge  in  the  hearts  of  the  little  chil- 
dren some  of  the  elemental  principles  of  morality 
and  religion.  Obviously  this  cannot  be  done 
abstractly.  Stories  from  the  Bible  and  the 
children's  own  experiences  will  serve  as  media 
by  which  to  convey  or  suggest  the  truth,  and 
the  child  should  at  once  be  given  opportunity  to 
express  in  play  or  picture  work  his  idea  of  the 
truth  which  has  been  presented  to  him. 

2.  In  the  first  three  years  after  the  kinder- 
garten the  aim  should  be  to  lodge  in  the  memory 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  151 

of  the  child   such  stories  from  the  Bible    as  will  2.  Stories  for 

,  r     1  '  1  •  r     1  1      •  children 

interest  and  profit  him,  and  certain  of  the  choicer 
sentences  or  verses  of  the  Bible,  such  as  will 
make  upon  his  mind  now  an  impression  of  spirit- 
ual truth,  and  will  be  treasured  in  the  memory  in 
after  life.  Pictures  and  other  illustrative  appa- 
ratus must  be  freely  used,  and  all  the  teaching 
must  be  skilfully  brought  into  connection  with 
the  child's  own  life.  To  this  end  stories  from 
other  literature  than  the  Bible  and  from  life 
may  be  freely  used  by  the  teacher.  The  reli- 
gious and  ethical  aim  must  be  constantly  kept 
in  mind  along  with  the  purpose  of  storing  the 
pupil's  memory. 

The  plan  upon  which  these  stories  should  be 
arranged  deserves  more  careful  study  than  it  has 
yet  received.  An  obvious  division  would  be  to 
devote  one  year  to  stories  from  the  life  of  Jesus, 
a  second  to  stories  from  the  Old  Testament,  and 
a  third  to  stories  from  the  lives  of  the  apostles. 
But  it  is  probable  that  a  topical  arrangement  on 
the  basis  of  the  ethical  and  religious  ideas  to  be 
inculcated  would  be  better,  and  that  more  ac- 
count should  be  taken  of  the  seasons  of  the  year 
and  the  festivals  of  the  church,  such  as  Christ- 
mas and  Easter,  than  a  purely  biographical 
grouping  would  permit.  Neither  the  chrono- 
logical nor  the  biographical  motive  appeals  very 
strongly  to  pupils  at  this  age.     Nor,  indeed,  is  it 


152  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

necessary  to  compel  them   to  arrange  details  in 
any  schematic  order. 
3.  The  study         3.  The  child  who  has  in  the  preceding  three 

of  the  Bible  ,  ,  .      ,  .         .  1        1  •  r 

asaiibrary  years  heard  many  ot  the  stories  from  the  lips  oi 
the  teacher,  and  has,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  had  many 
of  them  read  to  him  at  home,  has  presumably  by 
this  time  learned  to  read  for  himself.  It  is  time, 
therefore,  that  he  should  begin  to  learn  some- 
thing about  the  books  of  the  Bible,  as  a  prepa- 
ration to  the  study  of  them  from  the  printed  page. 
A  year  may  very  profitably  be  given  to  the  study 
of  the  Bible  as  a  collection  of  books  —  a  library. 
The  children  should  learn  from  specimens  of  each 
kind  the  different  kinds  of  books  which  the  Bible 
contains,  as,  for  example,  books  of  history  and 
stories,  of  law,  of  sermons,  of  poetry  and  wis- 
dom, of  letters,  and  of  vision.  Home  readings 
from  books  of  each  class  may  be  assigned,  the 
co-operation  of  the  parents  being  secured.  Pas- 
sages of  Scripture  notable  for  their  beauty  or 
content,  such  as  the  Ten  Commandments,  the 
Beatitudes,  choice  psalms,  sayings  of  Jesus  and 
the  apostles,  should  be  committed  to  memory. 
The  names  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  may  be 
learned  by  classes  and  in  the  order  in  which  they 
are  printed  in  the  Bible,  with  the  intent  that  the 
children  may  be  able  to  turn  readily  to  any  one 
of  them.  The  primary  and  controling  aim  should 
be  to  give  the  pupil   a  knowledge  of  the  varied 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  153 

contents  of  the  biblical  library,  and  of  their 
arrangement  in  the  Bible,  and  above  all  to  give 
him  a  genuine  interest  in  them  which  will  impel 
him  to  further  study  of  them  and  prepare  him 
for  it. 

4.  The  pupil  who  in  the  kindergarten  and  the  4.  Biographi- 
first  three  years  after  leaving  it  has  had  lodged  ^^  ^'"  ^ 

in  his  memory  many  of  the  stories  of  the  Bible, 
yet  disconnectedly,  without  reference  to  their 
historical  order,  and  who  has  spent  a  year  in 
gaining  a  general  knowledge  of  the  contents  of 
the  whole  biblical  library,  including,  perhaps  with 
some  special  emphasis,  the  books  of  history  and 
story,  may  now  profitably  pass  on  to  biographical 
study.  In  such  study  the  unit  is  no  longer  the 
story,  detached  and  isolated,  but  the  life  of  the 
individual,  the  patriarch,  prophet,  king,  apostle, 
or  Christ.  The  pupil  being  now  able  to  read, 
the  books  of  the  Bible  should  themselves  be 
his  chief  text-book,  whatever  aids  to  the  use  of 
them  it  may  be  expedient  to  put  into  his  hands. 
This  portion  of  the  curriculum  may  perhaps  also 
occupy  three  years,  and  should  be  so  taught  as 
to  result  in  the  dedication  of  the  young  life  to 
God. 

5.  At  this  point  in  the  curriculum  the  pupil,   5.  The  study 

1         •  t      J     1.1  r       j_       •  .of  biblical 

havmg  had  three  years  of  stories,  a  year  in  a  books 
general  survey  of  the  books  of  the    Bible,  and 
three  years  of  biographical  study,  may  properly 


154  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

take  up  the  continuous  and  more  thorough  study 
of  single  biblical  books.  Three  years  may  be 
given  to  this  kind  of  study.  The  aim  should  be 
to  give  the  pupil  an  intelligent  idea  of  the  con- 
tent and,  as  far  as  he  is  prepared  for  it,  of  the 
structure  and  character  of  certain  biblical  books. 
These  books  are  the  sources  of  the  history  which 
he  is  to  take  up  in  the  succeeding  four  years.  It 
being  impossible  to  study  thoroughly  the  whole 
of  the  literature,  typical  examples  should  be 
selected  for  study.  But  that  the  pupil  may  never- 
theless gain  a  genuine,  even  though  general, 
knowledge  of  the  content  of  the  whole  Bible, 
there  should  be  laid  out  for  him  a  three-years' 
course  of  reading,  covering  all  the  books  of  the 
Bible  not  taken  up  for  thorough  study. 
6.  Biblical  6.  In  the  last  four  years    of    the  prescribed 

course  the  aim  should  be  to  give  the  student  a 
connected  idea  of  biblical  history,  including  both 
events  and  teaching,  and  these  in  their  mutual 
relations ;  in  short,  a  comprehensive  survey  of 
•  the  history  of  biblical  revelation,  from  the  first 
recorded  beginnings  in  the  most  ancient  times 
down  to  the  end  of  the  apostolic  age. 

This  course  of  fourteen  years  might  be  accom- 
plished by  the  brightest  pupils  in  somewhat  less 
time.  Each  class  pursuing  its  work  independently 
might  go  rapidly  or  slowly,  according  to  ability; 
and  individual  pupils  might  carry  on  two  courses 


history 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  155 

at  once,  thus  shortening  the  course  to  twelve,  or 
even  ten,  years. 

7.   When  the    pupil  has    completed  his  pre-   7-  Elective 

*  *■  courses  in 

scribed  course,  covering  the  twelve  years  or  so  of  the  adult 
the  elementary  and  secondary  divisions,  he  will  ^^'^'°" 
pass  into  the  adult  division,  where  elective 
courses,  sufficient  to  occupy  him  the  rest  of 
his  life,  may  easily  be  offered,  if  only  compe- 
tent teachers  can  be  provided.  All  the  books 
of  the  Bible  may  be  taken  up  for  literary  and  in- 
terpretative study;  the  several  periods  of  bibli- 
cal history  may  be  studied  in  greater  detail  than 
before;  the  whole  field  of  biblical  theology  and 
biblical  ethics  is  open;  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
valid  reason  why  courses  in  applied  ethics,  per- 
sonal and  sociological,  as  well  as  courses  in  the 
history  of  the  church,  ancient  and  modern,  espe- 
cially the  history  of  missions,  should  not  be 
offered  here  also. 

These  seven  propositions  yield  something  like 
the  following 

CURRICULUM. 
I.      ELEMENTARY    DIVISION. 

1.  The  Kindergarten. 

2.  Three  years  of  stories,  pictures,  and  verses,  the  chief   Curriculum 
basis  of  grouping  being  probably  that  of  the  ethical  and 
religious  ideas  to  be  inculcated. 

3.  One  year  of  general  study  of  the  books  of  the  Bible : 
Elementary  biblical  introduction,  accompanied  by  read- 


156  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

ing  of  appointed  portions  and  the  memorizing  of  selected 
passages.* 
4.  Three  years  of  biographical  study. 
Fifth  year:     The  life  of  Jesus. 
Sixth  year:    Lives  of  Old  Testament  heroes. 
Seventh  year:      The  lives  of  the  apostles. 

II.      SECONDARY    DIVISION. 

1.  Three  years  in  the  study  of  the  books  of  the  Bible: 
Eighth  year:      First  half  —  i  Samuel. 

Second  half  —  The  gospel  of  Mark. 
Ninth  year:         First  half  —  Isaiah,  chaps.  1-12. 

Second  half  —  Acts,  chaps.  1-12. 
Tenth  year:         First  half  —  The  Psalms. 

Second    half — i   Peter;    Acts,  chaps. 

13-28. 

2.  Four  years  of  biblical  history: 

Eleventh  year:      Old  Testament  history  begun. 
Twelfth  year:       Old  Testament  history  completed. 
Thirteenth  year:  The  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus. 
Fourteenth  year:  The  history  and  teachings  of  the  apos- 
tolic age. 

III.      ADULT    DIVISION. 

Elective  courses: 

1.  The    interpretation  and   literary   study  of  the   several 
books  of  the  Bible. 

2.  Biblical  ethics  and  theology. 

3.  Biblical  history,  more  detailed  than  before. 

4.  Church  history. 

5.  Christian  doctrine. 

^  For  a  paper  showing  the  examination  successfully  passed  by 
a  class  of  boys  and  girls  about  ten  years  of  age,  who  had  spent  a 
year  on  the  course,  see  Appendix. 


school 


CHAPTER  III. 

EXAMINATIONS  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL. 
Ought  there  to  be  examinations  in  the  Sunday  Advantages  of 

•J     examinations 

school?  Some  will  certainly  answer  with  a  in  the  Sunday 
prompt  negative.  But  if  not,  why  not?  Do  not 
the  same  reasons  which  lead  to  the  use  of  exam- 
inations in  other  schools  suggest  the  employment 
of  them  in  the  Sunday  school?  An  examination 
can  be  said  to  serve  three  useful  ends :  First,  if 
rightly  conducted,  an  examination  tends  to  unify 
and  organize  the  pupil's  knowledge.  It  helps  to 
bring  into  one  connected  whole  what  was  before 
more  or  less  fragmentary  and  disconnected  in  his 
mind.  Second,  it  serves  as  a  stimulus  to  the 
pupil  to  do  thorough  work.  Almost  without  his 
recognizing  it,  the  fact  that  he  is  to  pass  an  exam- 
ination upon  his  work  at  the  end  of  the  quarter  or 
course  leads  the  pupil  to  make  a  greater  effort  to 
learn  thoroughly  the  successive  lessons.  Third,  it 
helps  the  teacher  or  examiner  to  decide  what  work 
the  student  should  next  take  up ;  in  other  words, 
it  is  a  criterion  for  promotion.  Now,  all  these 
results  are  as  desirable  in  the  Sunday  school  as 
in  any  other  school,  if  only  it  be  recognized  that 
it  is  the  business  of  the  Sunday  school  really  to 

157 


158  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

teach  and  of  the  pupil  really  to  learn.  Indeed, 
the  examination  is  more  needed  in  the  Sun- 
day school  than  in  the  public  school.  Just  be- 
cause the  public  school  can  use  certain  methods 
which  are  impracticable  in  the  Sunday  school 
for  securing  faithful  work  day  by  day,  it  could 
conceivably  more  easily  than  the  Sunday  school 
dispense  with  examinations.  Once  let  it  be 
clearly  recognized  that  the  Sunday  school  exists 
to  give  real  instruction  in  the  Bible,  and  to  secure 
real  study  and  learning  on  the  part  of  the  pupil, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that,  so  far  from  there  being 
less  reason  for  examinations  in  Sunday  schools 
than  in  other  schools,  there  is,  in  fact,  more 
reason  for  them. 
Objections  But  it  wiU  be  objected  that  the  examination 

is  precisely  that  feature  of  the  public  schools 
which  is  most  repugnant  to  the  pupil,  and  that 
the  introduction  of  the  system  into  the  Sunday 
school  will  at  once  create  a  dislike  for  the  Sun- 
day school  which  will  drive  pupils  away  from  it. 
Undoubtedly,  a  system  of  examinations  might  be 
introduced  into  a  Sunday  school  in  such  a  way 
as  to  antagonize  and  repel  some  pupils,  and  even 
to  lead  some  to  leave  the  school.  But  we  venture 
the  assertion — and  we  speak  from  experience — 
that,  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  discretion  and 
skill,  very  few  pupils,  if  any,  need  be  lost,  and 
many  will  be  gained.     The  best  pupils  will   re- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  159 

jbice  in  the  change,  because  of  the  consequent 
improvement  in  the  character  of  the  work  ;  many 
pupils  will  be  held  in  the  school,  as  they  were 
before,  by  parental  authority  or  other  influence 
unaffected  by  the  system  of  instruction  ;  and  wis- 
dom in  the  manner  of  introducing  the  examina- 
tions will  prevent  the  driving  away  of  even  those 
who  would  not  be  held  by  these  other  influences. 

How,  then,  shall  examinations  be  introduced.  Methods  of 
and   of  what  character  shall   they   be?      In  the  ^^"^'"^^°" 
larger  schools  it  will  be  found  desirable  to  appoint 
an  Examiner,  to  have  special  charge  of  the  whole 
matter.     He  will  need  to  study  the  situation,  and  ^^^ 

.     1  ,     ,.  .         ,        ,     .      .  ,       .  Examiner 

to  use  wisdom  and  discretion  both  in  introducing 
examinations  and  in  conducting  them.  It  will  be 
necessary  for  him  always  to  keep  in  close  touch 
with  the  teachers,  both  that  he  may  adapt  the 
examinations  to  the  instruction  given  and  that 
he  may  know  with  what  difficulties  the  system 
has  to  contend.  In  the  smaller  schools  the 
superintendent  or  secretary  may  also  serve  as 
examiner.  At  first,  at  least,  the  examinations 
may  be  made  optional,  no  pupil  being  obliged  to 
take  them,  but  all  being  encouraged  to  do  so, 
and  honorable  mention  being  made  of  those  who 
take  the  examination  and  pass  it  successfully. 
This  honorable  mention  may  be  made  in  the  form 
of  an  announcement  in  the  report  of  the  secretary 
or  examiner,  read  before  the  school,  or  by  post- 


i6o  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

ing  a  bulletin  where  all  can  see  it.  The  exami- 
nation should  not  cover  a  long  period,  probably 
not  to  exceed  three  months,  though  when  the 
system  is  fairly  under  way  an  annual  examination 
might  be  given  for  those  who  are  willing  to  take 
it.  If  the  lessons  call  for  written  work  each 
week,  the  work  thus  done  week  by  week  should 
be  taken  into  account  in  the  examination.  The 
quarterly  examination  should  not  be  a  mere  test 
of  memory.  Its  educational  purpose  should  be 
distinctly  kept  in  mind.  If  the  questions  are 
rightly  framed,  so  as  to  constitute  a  real  review 
of  the  main  features  of  the  quarter's  work,  they 
may  very  properly  be  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
pupils  on  one  Sunday,  to  be  returned  with  the 
answers  a  week  later,  the  pupils  being  instructed 
to  make  use  of  the  Bible  and  any  other  accessible 
sources  of  information,  personal  help  only  being 
excluded. 
Results  to  be  Such  an  examination,  announced  with  reason- 
expecte  ^^^^  ^j^.|j  ^^^  ^  clcar  Statement  of  the  real  reasons 

which  justify  it,  and  conducted  with  wisdom  and 
fairness,  will  not  only  prove  no  obstacle  to  the 
attendance  of  the  scholars,  but  can  scarcely  fail 
to  stimulate  both  teachers  and  pupils  to  do  better 
work,  and  thus  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the 
school  in  its  work  of  instruction. 

Have  you  an  examination  in  your  school  ?     If 
not,  why  not?     If  the  grade  of  your  work  is  so 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  i6i 

low  as  to  make  examinations  impracticable,  does  ^  question 
not  that  work  need  elevating?  If  so,  will  not 
an  examination  help  to  elevate  it  ?  Will  you  ap- 
point the  best  man  or  woman  you  have  to  act  as 
examiner,  and  announce  an  optional  examination 
on  the  next  quarter's  work? 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    GRADED 
SCHOOL. 

Organization       MaRK  HoPKINS  at  One  end  of  the  log,  some  youth- 
necessitated  A     /~-       n    ^ 

by  growth  ful  Garneld  at  the  other  —  this  would  constitute 
in  embryo  a  college.  So  one  teacher  filled  with 
knowledge,  zeal,  and  skill,  and  one  pupil,  would 
constitute  a  Sunday  school.  Yet  if  the  fame  of 
Mark  Hopkins  should  draw  to  the  log  other 
youthful  Garfields,  a  score,  a  hundred,  a  thou- 
sand, it  would  be  found  necessary  to  do  what 
our  American  colleges  and  universities  have 
done  —  appoint  a  president  and  other  administra- 
tive officers,  deans,  and  secretaries  and  treasurers, 
and  work  out  little  by  little  a  plan  of  organiza- 
tion which  would  enable  the  teacher  and  the 
pupil,  for  whose  teaching  and  learning  all  else 
exists,  to  do  their  work  most  effectively  and  suc- 
cessfully. So  in  the  Sunday  school,  as  the  one 
teacher  becomes  twenty  and  the  one  pupil  a  hun- 
dred or  five  hundred  or  a  thousand,  differentia- 
tion of  service  becomes  necessary,  and  conse- 
quently a  more  or  less  complex  organization  of 
the  school.  What  shall  be  the  form  of  that 
organization? 

162 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  163 

In  answering  this  question,  two  principles,  Simplicity 
mutually  corrective,  need  to  be  kept  in  mind : 
First,  the  principle  of  simplicity:  no  divisions  of 
pupils,  no  office  or  officer,  except  to  meet  a 
real  and  legitimate  need  of  the  school ;  no 
machinery,  except  to  further  the  central  educa- 
tional and  religious  purpose  of  the  school.  And, 
second,  the  principle  of  completeness :  every  Completeness 
legitimate  function  of  the  school  provided  for, 
with  some  one  person  charged  with  special  re- 
sponsibility for  it.  These  principles  presuppose 
a  definite  conception  of  the  purpose  for  which 
the  school  exists ;  and  if  they  are  followed,  the 
organization  of  the  school  will  simply  reflect  that 
purpose  and  further  its  realization.  The  com- 
plexity of  organization  will  vary  with  the  size  of 
the  school  and  the  completeness  with  which  it  is 
doing  the  work  of  a  school ;  with  the  size,  be- 
cause in  the  small  school — to  take  an  extreme 
case,  in  the  school  of  one  teacher  and  one  class 
— various  functions  will  be  combined  in  one  per- 
son or  even  lapse  altogether  because  of  the 
absence  of  any  need  to  co-ordinate  the  work  of 
the  different  parts  of  the  school ;  with  the  com- 
pleteness of  its  work,  because  only  functions 
actually  performed  or  to  be  undertaken  legiti- 
mately call  for  offices  and  officers. 

But  that  we  may  take  a  broad  and  reasonably 
complete  view  of  the  matter,  let  us  assume  a 


1 64  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

Organization    large  school  and  one  that  is  undertaking  all  its 

as  required  by  °  _, 

diverse  age  proper  forms  of  service.  There  are  two  points 
of  pupils  ^£  view  from  which  to  look  at  such  a  school : 
first,  from  that  of  the  diversity  of  the  pupils  in 
age  and  maturity  of  mind ;  second,  from  that  of 
the  varied  forms  of  service  which  the  school  aims 
to  render  its  pupils.  Consider  it  first  from  the 
point  of  view  of  age  of  pupils.  In  a  school 
which  includes  pupils  of  all  ages,  from  the  little 
children  in  the  kindergarten  to  men  and  women 
of  mature  age,  it  is  self-evident  that  there  must 
be  division  of  the  school  by,  so  to  speak,  hori- 
zontal planes.  The  teaching  and  exercises  of 
worship  which  appeal  to  the  youngest  children 
are  not  suitable  for  adults,  and  the  converse  is 
even  more  emphatically  true.  Into  how  many 
divisions  a  school  should  be  divided  is  a  ques- 
tion to  which  no  absolute  answer  can  be  returned, 
but  probably  wherever  possible  there  should  be 
The  Divisions  at  least  three :  The  Elementary  Division,  includ- 
ing pupils  to  about  the  fourth  or  sixth  grade ; 
the  Secondary  Division,  including  pupils  from 
the  fifth  or  seventh  to  the  twelfth  grade ;  and 
the  Adult  Division,  including  all  above  the 
twelfth  grade.  To  these  three  it  might  be  ex- 
pedient in  some  cases  to  add  two  others  by  sep- 
arating the  Kindergarten  from  the  Elementary 
Division  and  organizing  a  Home  Division  sep- 
arate from  the  Adult  Division. 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  165 

Now,  the  character  of  the  work  in  each  of  Principals 
these  several  divisions  is  so  differentiated  from 
that  of  the  others  that  it  is  expedient  to  place 
at  the  head  of  each  division  a  Principal,  who 
shall  have  general  oversight  of  and  responsibility 
for  the  conduct  of  the  work  in  that  division, 
selecting  and  appointing  teachers,  filling  vacan- 
cies, and  conducting  the  public  exercises  of  the 
division. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  diversity  of  the  kinds  organization 
of  service  which  the  school  seeks   to  render  to  as  required  by 

diversity  of 

all  its  pupils,  and  the  necessity  that  all  the  work  function 
of  the  school  in  each  of  these  lines  shall  proceed 
upon  some  intelligent  and  consistent  plan,  sug- 
gest the  desirability  of  a  division  of  the  work  of 
the  school  vertically,  so  to  speak,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  ofificers  who  shall  severally  concern 
themselves  with  the  different  forms  of  service 
which  the  school  seeks  to  render  This  would  Directors 
call  for  Directors  of  Instruction,  of  Religious  Life, 
of  Benevolence,  of  Public  Exercises,  and  of  the 
Library.  Of  course,  all  these  Directors  must 
work  in  harmony  both  with  one  another  and 
with  the  Principals  of  the  several  divisions. 

It  would  be  the    duty   of    the    Director   of  The  Director 
Instruction  to  inform  himself  as  fully  and  as  intel-  °^  instruction 
ligently  as  possible  on  the  whole  problem  of  the 
curriculum  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  elective 
classes  of  the  adult  division,  and  to  work  out  a 


1 66 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  Director 
of  Public 
Exercises 


practicable  curriculum  for  his  school.  He  must 
become  acquainted  with  the  existing  literature 
so  as  to  be  prepared  to  recommend  the  very  best 
available  material,  and  adjust  the  theoretical  cur- 
riculum to  the  possibilities  of  the  literature.  In 
consultation  with  the  teachers  and  principals  of 
divisions  he  would  be  called  upon  to  plan  and 
introduce  a  system  of  examinations  and  pro- 
motions, all  the  time  carefully  keeping  his  finger 
on  the  pulse  of  the  school  that  he  might  make 
haste  slowly  and  prudently.  In  this  service  he 
would  probably  need  in  any  large  school  the 
assistance  of  an  Examiner,  who  would  arrange  for 
the  preparation  of  the  questions,  receive  the 
papers  and  have  them  read,  keep  the  record  of 
each  pupil's  examinations  and  promotions.  It 
would  be  the  duty  of  the  Director  of  Instruction 
to  assist  the  Principals  in  the  selection  of  suitable 
teachers,  to  devise  means  for  training  teachers, 
and  perhaps  himself  to  conduct  a  normal  class. 
In  a  church  which  has  a  "teaching  minister"  — 
of  whom  we  speak  in  a  subsequent  chapter — the 
office  of  Director  of  Instruction  would  naturally 
fall  to  him. 

The  Director  of  Public  Exercises  would  be 
called  upon  to  study  the  problem  of  the  best  order 
of  exercises — ritual  or  liturgy — for  each  division 
of  the  school,  always  working  in  harmony  with 
the   several  Principals.     To  him  would  fall,  of 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  167 

course,  the  general  oversight  of  the  music  of  the 
school  and  the  chief  responsibility  for  rendering 
it  in  the  highest  degree  conducive  to  the  great  re- 
ligious and  educational  aim  of  the  school.  Such 
a  Director  might  or  might  not  share  with  the 
Principals  the  actual  conduct  of  the  public  exer- 
cises. In  any  case,  his  great  duty  would  be  to 
give  intelligent  oversight  and  guidance  to  this 
important  part  of  the  work  of  the  school. 

The  Director  of  Benevolence  would  be  charged  '^j^^  Director 

°  of  Benevo- 

with  the  duty  of  keeping  the  benevolent  work  of  lence 
the  school  on  a  high  educational  level,  on  suitable 
occasions  expounding  to  the  different  divisions 
of  the  school  the  principles  which  underlie  true 
and  wise  beneficence,  and  suggesting  objects  to 
which  the  pupils  might  give  or  the  ratio  of  division 
between  different  objects.  The  task  of  actually 
receiving  and  disbursing  funds  would,  of  course, 
fall  to  the  Treasurer,  whose  office  is  thus  in  a  sense 
in  the  department  of  the  Director  of  Benevolence. 

The  Director  of  Relis^ious  Life  would  naturally  "^^^  Director 

o  ^     of  Religious 

be  the  pastor  or  assistant  pastor  of  the  church.  Life 
He  could  hardly  acquire  by  appointment  to  this 
office  any  new  duties,  but  the  fact  of  his  appoint- 
ment would  at  the  same  time  emphasize  the  re- 
ligious purpose  of  the  school  and  give  to  the 
pastor  a  recognized  relation  to  the  school.  His 
duty  would,  of  course,  be  to  stimulate,  encourage, 
direct,  and  assist  the  teachers  and  Principals  in 


i68 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  Director 
of  the  Library 
and  the 
Secretary 


The  Superin- 
tendent 


making  the  school  religiously  effective.  A  weekly 
meeting  for  members  of  the  secondary  division ,  for 
example,  conducted  by  him  might  be  one  of  the 
regular  appointments  of  that  division.  Class 
meetings  might  be  held,  pastor  and  teacher  co- 
operating. But  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into 
details  at  this  point.  The  essential  matter  is  that 
the  pastor,  as  the  special  representative  of  the 
central  religious  purpose  of  the  school,  shall  have 
a  recognized  place  in  its  organization,  co-oper- 
ating with  all  other  officers  in  bringing  about  the 
great  end  of  the  school. 

Of  the  work  of  the  Director  of  the  Library 
and  of  that  of  the  Chief  Secretary ,  with  tried  assist- 
ants for  the  several  divisions  of  the  school,  where 
such  are  needed,  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak  at 
length.  In  each  of  the  divisions  valuable  service 
may  be  rendered  by  such  officers  if  they  bring  to 
their  tasks  an  intelligent  recognition  of  and  sym- 
pathy with  the  central  aim  of  the  school  and  skill 
in  adapting  means  to  end. 

Finally,  there  is  needed  a  President  or  Super- 
intendent, whose  duties  would  be  analogous  to 
those  of  the  president  of  any  institution  or  enter- 
prise, including  the  general  oversight  of  the 
school,  the  co-ordination  of  the  work  of  its 
several  divisions  and  of  the  several  fields  of 
effort,  the  stimulation  and  encouragement  of  all 
the  workers,  and  the  planning  of  new  work  and 
advance  movements. 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  169 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  will  not  so  elaborate  Organization 
an  organization  crush  out  the  life  of  the  school?  smaKdJooh 
That  depends  upon  the  school.  If  it  consists  of 
one  teacher  and  one  pupil  on  a  log  in  the  woods, 
the  teacher  will  not  be  helped  to  do  his  work  by 
electing  himself  to  half  a  dozen  directorships, 
and  he  will  find  no  occasion  to  create  five  divisions 
of  the  school  according  to  the  age  of  the  pupils. 
Nor  in  a  small  country  school  which  has  but  one 
room  and  in  which  a  half-dozen  persons  must  fill 
all  the  offices  and  do  all  the  teaching,  will  it  be 
expedient  to  apply  in  detail  a  plan  such  as  we 
have  described.  Even  in  this  case,  however,  it 
may  perhaps  not  be  without  helpfulness  for  those 
on  whose  shoulders  the  responsibility  for  the 
school  rests  to  recognize  the  diversified  character 
of  the  work  they  are  undertaking,  and  quietly  to 
parcel  among  themselves  the  responsibility  for 
the  oversight  of  the  different  lines  of  work  which 
every  school  should  undertake  to  do.  Thus  they 
might  say  to  one  teacher,  "Do  you,  besides 
teaching  your  class,  give  special  thought  to  the 
improving  of  the  general  exercises  of  the  school, 
to  the  end  that  they  may  be  in  the  highest  degree 
religiously  helpful;"  to  another,  "Do  you  think 
how  we  can  best  train  our  pupils  in  benevolence; " 
to  the  Superintendent,  "  Do  you  think  how  we 
can  all  improve  our  teaching  ; "  and  to  the  pastor, 
"  Do  you  co-operate  with  us  in  leading  our  pupils 


170 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Organization 
as  applied  to 
large  schools 


Combination 
of  offices 


to  faith  in  Christ  and  developing  their  religious 
lives." 

Yet  it  is  especially  for  the  larger  schools,  hav- 
ing pupils  of  all  ages  and  a  large  force  of  workers 
in  the  church  to  draw  from,  that  such  an  organi- 
zation as  that  which  we  have  described  will  be 
possible  or  advantageous.  In  many  such  cases 
we  are  persuaded  some  such  plan  will  be  in  every 
way  expedient  and  helpful.  The  very  diversity 
of  offices  will  keep  before  the  mind  of  all  the 
various  ends  which  the  school  seeks  to  achieve, 
or  rather  the  various  means  by  which  it  seeks  to 
achieve  its  one  great  end.  The  division  of  respon- 
sibility will  secure  more  concentrated  attention 
to  the  problems  which  arise  in  the  different  fields 
of  the  school's  work,  and  will  often  serve  to  call 
into  the  service  of  the  school  ability  which  is 
unemployed  for  lack  of  a  task  to  which  it  is 
exactly  adapted. 

Even  a  school  of  moderate  size  might  find 
substantially  this  form  of  organization  advanta- 
geous, only  reducing  the  number  of  officers,  if 
not  of  offices,  by  assigning  two  or  more  of  the 
latter  to  one  person.  Thus  in  some  cases  the 
pastor  might  be  Director  of  Instruction  as  well  as 
of  Religious  Life;  the  Superintendent  might  also 
hold  the  office  of  Director  of  Public  Exercises, 
if  he  had  taste  and  ability  in  that  direction. 
Such  combinations  should,  however,  be  personal ; 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  171 

that  is,  if  the  same  person  is  elected  to  two  or 
more  offices,  it  should  be  because  he  is  the  best 
person  for  each  of  these,  not  because  it  has  been 
decided  beforehand  to  combine  these  two  offices 
as  mere  offices. 

Such  an  organization  involves,  of  course,  some  ^^s^^'- 
danger  of  disintegration  and  the  possibility  of 
some  persons  working  at  cross-purposes.  But 
this  danger  is  common  to  all  large  enterprises 
involving  division  of  responsibility,  and  can  be 
overcome  by  wise  generalship  on  the  part  of  the 
head  of  the  school  and  unselfish  devotion  to  its 
high  aims  on  the  part  of  all  the  co-operating 
workers.  In  at  least  one  school  of  which  we  have 
knowledge  these  dangers  have  been  avoided  and 
the  school,  under  this  form  of  administration  for 
years,  has  in  that  period  grown  greatly  in  num- 
bers, and  become  greatly  strengthened  in  all 
those  elements  that  give  a  Sunday  school  efficiency 
and  success. 


CHAPTER  V. 


The  Sunday- 
school 
library  as 
popularly 
conceived 


THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

Unless  we  mistake,  Sunday-school  libraries  have 
commonly  been  advocated  on  the  ground  that  it 
is  necessary  to  furnish  the  members  of  the  school 
with  innocuous  and  pious  reading.  At  the  same 
time  the  conventional  idea  of  Sunday-school 
books  is  a  caricature.  Whatever  such  literature 
may  have  been  half  a  century  or  more  ago  —  and 
from  some  of  its  survivals  one  can  hardly  call  it 
virile  —  of  late  years  the  books  which  have  been 
distributed  among  the  members  of  Sunday  schools, 
although  not  always  of  any  particular  literary 
excellence,  have  certainly  not  merited  the  indis- 
criminate ridicule  and  condemnation  to  which 
they  have  been  subjected.  Yet  they  are  far  from 
being  ideal.  The  rank  and  file  of  Sunday-school 
libraries  have  been  composed  either  of  indiffer- 
ently written  books  of  stories,  intended  to  incul- 
cate such  moral  lessons  as  should  be  learned  by 
the  young,  or  of  a  haphazard  collection  of  second- 
hand books  presented  by  well-meaning  friends 
much  as  they  would  present  cast-off  clothing  to 
the  poor. 

Without  entering  into   any   discussion   as  to 

172 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  173 

whether  such  libraries  are  better  than  none —  The  two 
which  is  very  possible  —  two  principles  may  be  be  recognized ; 
laid  down  which  must  always  be  recognized  in 
this  connection. 

In  the  first  place,  whether  or  not  the  public   \-  The 

•  0111     library 

library  contams  such  works,  every  Sunday  school  should  be 
should  have  a  collection  of  books  which  will  actu-  educational 
ally  assist  it  to  fulfil  its  educational  function.  If 
public  schools  need  libraries,  so  do  Sunday 
schools,  and  for  the  same  reason — the  assistance 
they  can  render  in  teaching  and  in  study.  Text- 
books, even  the  best  of  them,  need  to  be  supple- 
mented by  works  dealing  more  fully  with  specific 
matter,  and  in  a  Sunday  school  in  which  the  curric- 
ulum is  graded,  the  need  is  all  the  greater. 
Few  teachers  and  fewer  pupils  can  be  expected  ^°°^3  °^ 

^     *  ^  reference 

to  purchase  works  of  reference.  They  should  be 
supplied  by  the  school  itself.  Even  if  such  libra- 
ries were  small  and  limited  in  use  to  teachers, 
their  influence  and  help  would  be  considerable. 
The  mere  sight  of  books  dealing  with  the  sub- 
jects of  study  is  a  stimulus  to  study.  Any 
instruction  of  teachers  that  is  more  than  a 
"cramming"  process  for  the  next  Sunday's  les- 
son imperatively  demands  that  there  be  ready 
for  use  a  collection  of  books  which  may  be  em- 
ployed by  the  teacher  in  the  investigative  study 
to  which  he  must  frequently  be  driven,  or  for  the 
other  purposes   which    real    study    presupposes. 


174  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

The  same  principle  applies  in  the  work  of  pupils. 
They  too  should  be  inducted,  as  far  as  their 
interests  warrant,  into  the  rapidly  growing  litera- 
The  sort  ture  dealing  with  biblical  matters.  Just  what 
demanded  thcse  books  should  be  wiU  need  to  be  determined 
in  each  case  by  the  Director  of  Instruction,  as- 
sisted by  a  well-chosen  committee,  but  they 
should  include  introductions  to  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  histories  of  biblical  times,  lives  of 
Christ  and  Paul,  readable  but  scholarly  commen- 
taries, and  above  all  a  good  dictionary  of  the 
Bible.  To  such  books  as  these  there  should  be 
added  illustrative  material  such  as  maps  and 
photographs  (or  photographic  reproductions)  of 
biblical  places  and  scenes.  There  should  be 
added  also  works  of  a  more  general  interest,  such 
as  outline  histories  and  discussions  of  theologi- 
cal and  educational  subjects.  Finally,  if  such  a 
library  as  this  is  in  any  way  to  circulate  among 
the  members  of  the  school,  it  should  abound  in 
duplicates. 
2.  Social  The  second   principle  that    may   be   said    to 

met  byThe      govem  Sunday-scliool  libraries  is  this  :  the  ques- 
hbrary  |-jqj^  ^g  ^q  whether,  in  addition  to  this  reference 

and  study  library,  a  Sunday  school  should 
attempt  to  furnish  general  reading  for  a  commu- 
nity is  a  matter  of  philanthropic  policy  to  be 
classed  with  the  matter  of  establishing  a  boys' 
club  or  a  public  kindergarten.     If  there  is  no 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  175 

public  library  in  the  vicinity  of  the  school,  or 
none  which  furnishes  the  classes  of  books  which 
the  members  of  the  school  need,  and  if  they  have 
no  means  of  obtaining  suitable  reading,  then  the 
school  may  very  well  supply  the  need.  In  such 
a  case  its  obligation  arises  from  a  general  social 
need,  and  the  class  of  books  it  should  place  at  The  sort 
the  disposition  of  the  community  should  not  be  demanded 
exclusively  religious.  It  should  seek  to  supply 
good  literature  of  all  sorts  —  fiction,  history, 
essays,  biography,  travels,  poetry.  If  it  has  suit- 
able accommodations,  it  might  even  open  a  read- 
ing-room every  day  and  evening  of  the  week. 
There  is  nearly  always  a  need  of  some  social 
service  of  this  sort,  and  happy  is  the  Sunday 
school  which  is  blessed  with  such  leaders  and 
facilities  that  it  may  render  ft. 

One  proviso   of   great  importance  should   be  The '^reading 

iiiTi'iir  1     committee" 

added.  In  choosmg  books  for  such  a  general 
library  as  this,  all  volumes  should  be  selected  by 
a  committee,  and  each  volume  should  be  read 
and  approved  by  at  least  two  persons  —  three 
would  be  better — before  it  is  purchased  and  put 
into  circulation.  If  such  a  committee  is  well 
chosen,  the  library  may  become  an  object  of  pride 
as  well  as  real  help  to  the  school,  and  through  it 
to  the  community. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL  BENEVOLENCE. 
The  conven-    There  are  fcw,  if  any,  Sunday  schools  in  which 

tional  view  of  .,  . 

Sunday-school  the  pupils  are  not  asked  to  contribute  money  for 
benevolence  ^^^  ^^  movQ  purposcs,  especially  for  the  purchase 
of  lesson  helps,  and  for  the  other  necessary  mat- 
ters of  Sunday-school  administration.  In  some 
schools  an  attempt  is  made  to  systematize  the 
various  collections  by  a  double  system  of  envel- 
opes, one  of  which  is  used  for  money  devoted  to 
the  expenses  of  the  school,  and  the  other  for 
benevolence.  In  most  schools,  however,  the 
money  is  contributed  by  the  pupils  convention- 
ally, with  little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  purpose 
to  which  it  is  appropriated.  As  a  result  the  sum 
is  small,  and  whatever  educational  power  might 
belong  to  the  custom  is  lost. 
Education  in  In  reality,  the  giving  of  money  in  the  Sunday 

in"thrsunday  school  fulfils  its  proper  function  only  when  it  is 
school  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  educational  work  of  the 

school.  Not  that  the  training  in  benevolence 
finds  its  ultimate  aim  in  the  reflex  influence  on 
the  giver;  this  would  be  to  convert  benevolence 
itself  into  a  subtle  and  refined  selfishness.  But 
inasmuch  as  the  spirit  of  genuine,  outgoing  benev- 

176 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  177 

olence  must  itself  be  cultivated,  and  inasmuch  as 
the  Sunday  school  has  for  its  object  the  training 
of  the  pupils  in  Christian  character,  it  is  fitting 
that  all  the  giving  in  the  Sunday  school  should 
have  as  a  part  of  its  aim  the  creation  and  develop- 
ment of  this  spirit.  For  a  child  to  give  money 
merely  because  a  parent  has  given  him  a  cent  or 
two  for  the  purpose  is  almost  as  bad  as  not  to 
give  at  all.  In  fact,  it  may  be  even  worse,  for 
often  it  becomes  a  subject  of  ridicule. 

Regarded  as  a  part  of  the  moral  and  religious  The  expenses 
education  of  a  child,  the  benevolence  of  the  Sun-  g^oo^ghtuid 
day  school  should  first  of  all  be  benevolence,  not  be  home  by 
contribution  exclusively  to  the  expenses  of  the 
school.  Of  course,  at  this  point  there  is  involved 
the  whole  matter  of  the  relation  of  the  Sunday 
school  to  the  church.  In  many  places  the  two 
are  practically  independent,  if  not  rivals,  the 
pastor  and  officers  of  the  church  having  little  or 
no  control  over  the  management  of  the  school. 
Such  a  divorce  of  the  two  institutions  is  unfortu- 
nate, and  tends  to  create  friction.  It  is  a  matter 
of  congratulation  that  in  many  churches  today 
the  Sunday  school  is  regarded  as  a  department  of 
the  church,  its  superintendent,  and  perhaps  other 
officers,  being  elected  by  the  church  just  as  the 
deacons  and  the  trustees  are.  If  once  this  point 
of  view  be  taken,  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  a  church 
should  not  make  appropriations  for  lesson  helps 


178 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


How  to 
awaken 
interest  in 
objects  of 
benevolence 


and  other  aids  to  Sunday-school  work  from  the 
funds  of  the  church  itself.  But  in  most  churches 
the  financial  question  is  one  of  importance,  and 
even  though  the  Sunday  school  be  regarded  as  a 
department  of  the  church,  and  under  the  reli- 
gious direction  of  the  church  officers,  it  will  be 
expected  to  meet  a  portion  of  its  expenses. 
There  are  even  advantages  in  this  to  the  child 
himself,  as  we  shall  endeavor  to  point  out  a  little 
later,  if  only  the  matter  be  treated  in  a  peda- 
gogical way,  and  not  left  to  the  inertia  of  mere 
custom. 

As  a  part,  then,  of  the  moral  and  religious 
training  of  the  child,  the  benevolence  of  the  Sun- 
day school  should  cultivate  genuine,  unselfish, 
thoughtful  giving.  This  involves  the  giving  of 
that  which  has  real  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  giver, 
interest  in  the  persons  affected  by  the  gift,  and 
in  due  time  an  intelligent  choice  among  various 
objects  of  benevolence.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to 
train  a  child  in  habits  of  perfunctory  and  thought- 
less giving.  The  charity  that  consists  in  giving 
away  old  clothes  and  toys  which  the  child  no 
longer  needs  or  cares  for,  to  persons  of  whom  he 
knows  nothing  and  in  whom  he  feels  no  interest, 
has  little  value  to  the  recipient  and  is  almost 
wholly  destitute  of  educational  value  for  the  giver. 
It  may  even  be  harmful  to  both,  embittering  the 
recipient  and  producing  in  the  giver  a  pride  and 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  179 

self-satisfaction  that  is  as  selfish  in  the  child  as  it 
is  in  the  adult. 

The  child  should  be  made  to  have  an  interest  Let  the 
in  the  object  to  which  he  is  contributing.  There  benevolence 
are  many  ways,  of  course,  of  accomplishing  this,  be  definite 
but  perhaps  the  most  necessary  requirement  is 
that  the  object  be  definite,  and  so  presented  to  the 
child  as  to  enable  him  to  form  a  distinct  con- 
ception of  its  need  of  assistance.  There  is,  of 
course,  a  large  need  for  arousing  children's  inter- 
est—  for  example,  in  the  general  cause  of  mis- 
sions— but  the  surest  way  of  accomplishing  this 
end  is  not  by  discussing  the  matter  in  a  broad 
way,  which  might  very  well  appeal  to  men  and 
women,  but  in  the  presentation  of  a  certain  definite 
field,  or,  better  still,  of  a  certain  definite  school 
or  church  or  worker.  Some  schools,  for  example, 
have  very  little  difficulty  in  supporting  a  native 
preacher  in  some  foreign  field.  Other  schools 
send  specific  sums  to  certain  specific  schools  for 
certain  definite  purposes.  It  makes  little  differ- 
ence what  the  object  is,  provided  that  its  needs 
are  so  definitely  stated  that  the  pupils  are  aroused 
to  the  sense  of  need  and  to  a  desire  to  help. 

But  interest  is,  after  all,  but  one  element  in  Training  in 
the    education    in   benevolence.     As   the    child  choice  in 
grows  into   maturity,  he  will  find  that  the  great  benevolence 
need  in  charitable  work  is  a  rational  choice  as  to 
what  he  shall  help.     The  habit  of  making  such 


i8o 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Let  the 

pupils  discuss 
and  vote 


Self-support 


choice,  and  not  trusting  to  a  momentary  impulse, 
is  one  which  should  be  cultivated  in  the  child 
from  the  moment  when  he  begins  to  give,  and 
probably  the  most  effectual  way  of  inducing 
such  a  habit  is  for  the  person  who  has  the  benev- 
olence of  the  Sunday  school  in  charge  to  present 
to  the  school  two  or  three  objects  to  which  the 
school's  contributions  can  be  appropriated,  letting 
the  school  itself  decide  by  a  majority  of  votes  as 
to  which  object  shall  receive  the  money.  If  it 
be  possible,  it  would  be  well  by  a  little  judicious 
prearrangement  to  cause  a  discussion  to  spring 
up  over  the  various  subjects  suggested,  in  order 
that  the  arguments  for  each,  and  the  relative  im- 
portance and  need  of  each,  may  be  definitely  un- 
derstood by  the  members  of  the  school  before 
voting.  In  fact,  simply  to  have  a  formal  vote  in 
which  the  children  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment 
decide,  under  the  direction  of  their  elders,  is 
bad.  At  the  very  least  each  subject  should  be 
presented  carefully  by  some  competent  person, 
and  the  vote  taken  by  ballot  immediately  after 
the  presentation  of  the  proposed  objects,  or  the 
following  Sunday.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to 
think  that  children  will  not  be  interested,  and  that 
they  will  vote  without  having  definite  reasons. 

But  while  the  pupil  is  thus  trained  to  give  for 
objects  wholly  outside  the  sphere  of  his  own  self- 
interest,  parallel  with  this  training  it  is  eminently 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  i8i 

wise  that  he  should  become  accustomed  to  give 
for  other  things  from  which  he  himself  de- 
rives benefit.  If  he  gives  a  part  of  his  contri- 
butions for  the  purchase  of  books  and  papers, 
and  other  like  expenses  of  the  Sunday  school 
itself,  this  will  gradually  bring  home  to  his  mind 
the  fact  that  the  maintenance  of  the  Sunday 
school  costs  money,  and  gradually  inculcate  the 
principle  of  self-support,  and  so  prepare  him  in 
maturer  years  to  take  his  share  in  the  mainte- 
nance and  support  of  the  church.  While  every 
school  has  its  own  general  system  for  benevo- 
lence, the  following  plan  may  be  worth  consid- 
eration ;  Divide  the  total  amount  contributed  by  Specific 
the  school  into  three  parts,  one  part  to  be  used  ^"Sgestions 
for  the  expenses  of  the  school,  the  second  to  be 
appropriated  as  a  whole  to  some  definite  object 
which  has  been  selected  by  the  school,  and  the 
third  portion  to  be  kept  as  a  fund  from  which 
special  appropriations  can  be  made  by  the  school 
to  such  various  objects  as  may  be  presented.  A 
special  collection  for  a  definite  object  of  charity 
is  likely  to  be  the  worst  sort  of  education  in  gen- 
erosity, for  it  increases  the  dangerous  habit  of 
giving  money  upon  the  impulse  of  a  moment 
rather  than  deliberately.  It  is  a  great  safeguard 
for  the  school  to  have  it  distinctly  understood 
that  no  object  of  charity  shall  be  presented  to 
the  school  without  the  consent  of  the  committee 


l82 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


The  adminis- 
tration of 
benevolence 


having  the  benevolence  in  charge,  and  that,  even 
when  objects  are  presented,  any  aid  given  shall 
be  taken  from  a  definite  fund  which  must  be  ad- 
ministered with  some  attempt  at  keeping  the 
proper  proportion  between  various  objects  worthy 
of  support. 

All  this  makes  it  evident  that  it  is  impossible 
to  leave  the  administration  of  benevolence  to  the 
haphazard  methods  of  some  Sunday  schools. 
There  should  be  a  committee  appointed  to  have 
the  matter  in  charge,  and  it  will  be  well  to  have 
the  committee  of  considerable  size,  in  order  that 
as  many  as  possible  may  be  interested  in  the 
matter.  Such  a  committee  should  see  to  it,  not 
only  that  the  objects  among  which  the  school  is 
to  choose  are  carefully  presented,  but  also  that 
church  festivals,  like  Christmas,  Easter,  and 
Children's  Day,  become  new  opportunities  for 
awakening  a  new  generosity.  No  Christmas  en- 
tertainment should  omit  the  contributions  made 
by  children  to  others,  and  the  committee  should 
insist  that  in  such  contributions  the  child  should 
give  away  that  which  is  of  value,  and  not  merely 
that  which  is  spoiled.  By  the  testimony  of  all 
schools  which  have  adopted  it,  this  feature  is  the 
most  delightful  portion  of  the  Christmas  enter- 
tainment. The  committee  will  also  see  that, 
after  these  gifts  have  been  contributed,  a  re- 
port  of  how  they  were  distributed   is  made  to 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  183 

the  school,  and  thus  the  child's  sympathies  be 
carried  directly  to  the  institution  or  person  to 
whom  he  has  made  the  contribution. 

Thus  resfarded   as  a  part  of  the  educational  The  desired 

°  ,     ,  ^  result  of 

process  and  administered  as  a  distinct  and  legiti-   these  plans 
mate  department  of  the  school,  the  matter  of  be- 
nevolence will  cease  to  be  purely  formal,  and  will 
become  as  serviceable  in  the  formation  of  char- 
acter as  the  study  of  the  lesson  itself. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  A  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
RITUAL. 

The  ritual  of    ix  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  Sunday  school  that 

the  Sunday  ^   -      ■,        r      •         i        ^  •  t   •      i 

school  as  an  has  not  somc  Kind  or  ritual;  that  is,  some  kind 
educauonai  q£  gervice  made  up  of  prayer,  music,  Scripture 
reading,  etc.,  preceding  or  following  the  study  of 
the  Bible  lesson.  But  what  proper  place  is  there 
for  such  exercises  in  the  Sunday  school?  The 
Sunday  school  is  an  educational  institution  in 
which  the  study  and  teaching  of  the  Bible  occupy 
the  central  place.  Why  should  it  have  a  ritual? 
The  answer  is,  we  believe,  clear,  and  important  in 
its  bearing  on  the  other  question,  what  kind  of 
ritual  the  Sunday  school  ought  to  have.  The 
Sunday  school  is  an  educational  institution,  but 
the  definition  must  not  be  taken  too  narrowly;  it 
is  not  merely  a  Bible  school.  Its  ultimate  and 
comprehensive  aim  is  the  moral  and  religious 
education  of  the  members  of  the  school.  To 
this  end  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  is  one  means 
—  the  chief  one,  indeed,  but  not  necessarily  the 
only  one.  In  such  teaching  religious  education 
is  sought  chiefly  through  instruction  of  the  mind, 
through  the  presentation  of  the  great  facts  of 

184 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  185 

biblical  history  and  the  great  truths  of  biblical 
revelation.  But  education — it  is  pre-eminently 
true  of  the  religious  side  of  education  —  can 
never  be  purely  intellectual.  The  religious  feel- 
ings need  cultivation  and  education  as  truly  as 
the  mind  requires  religious  instruction. 

In  this  fact,  and  in  the  comprehensive  defini-  The  education 
tion  of  the  function  of  the  Sunday  school  as  the  emotions 
religious  education  of  the  pupils,  are  found  at 
once  the  justification  of  the  ritual  and  the  guid- 
ing principle  for  determining  its  character.  While 
the  teaching  hour  makes  its  chief  appeal  to  the 
mind,  the  ritual  service  has  relation  chiefly  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  emotions. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the  two  elements, 
the  intellectual  and  the  emotional,  can  be  wholly 
divorced  from  each  other.  There  must  be  feel- 
ing, reverence,  and  love  of  truth,  admiration  for 
noble  character,  detestation  of  wickedness,  in 
connection  with  the  study  of  the  Bible,  if  this  is 
to  be  most  effective.  There  must  be  thought 
and  even  instruction  in  the  ritual,  or  it  will  fail 
to  make  its  due  appeal  to  the  emotions.  But  the 
distinction  of  emphasis  remains.  Broadly  speak- 
ing, the  teaching  hour  appeals  to  the  intellect, 
the  ritual  service  to  the  feelings. 

What,  then,  are  the  feelings  which  the  Sun-  The  feelings 
day-school  ritual  should  seek  to  cultivate  ?  We  ntuai  should 
answer:    reverence,    adoration,    love,    penitence,  cultivate 


1 86  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

aspiration,  hope.  Central  in  the  whole  service 
must  be  the  aim  to  bring  before  the  mind  the 
thought — a  true  thought  —  of  God  in  the  per- 
fection of  his  character,  in  the  majesty  of  his 
holiness,  in  the  infinitude  of  his  love  and  mercy. 
This  is  to  be  accomplished,  not  by  formal  in- 
struction concerning  the  divine  nature,  or  chiefly 
by  the  recitation  of  a  creed.  It  is  rather  to  be 
The  means  of  attained  by  the  reading  or  recitation  of  such  sen- 

cultivating  .     ^       .  •  i        , 

them  tences    of   Scripture    as  express   m  exalted  and 

poetic  language  the  adoration  of  those  clear- 
sighted and  reverent  souls  who  have  gained  a 
vision  of  God ;  by  the  singing  of  hymns  in  which 
godly  men  and  women  have  sought  to  express 
the  emotions  of  their  souls ;  and  by  prayer  in 
which,  whether  one  speak  while  the  others  follow 
only  with  the  mind  and  heart,  or  all  join  in  uni- 
son, the  hearts  of  all  shall  be  lifted  to  God  to- 
gether. Such  reverent,  and,  in  the  proper  sense 
of  the  word,  solemn,  bringing  before  the  mind  of 
the  thought  of  God  is  calculated  as  is  no  other 
means  to  call  forth  and  develop  our  religious 
emotions. 

When  in  an  atmosphere,  not  of  cold  definition, 
of  heated  controversy,  or  of  didactic  exactness, 
but  of  elevated  and  sincere  praise,  we  gain  a 
vision  of  God  as  the  almighty,  the  ever-living, 
perfect  in  holiness  and  boundless  in  mercy,  then 
our   hearts   learn   to  revere,  to  adore,  to   love. 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  187 

Then,  too,  touched  as  we  never  could  be  by  mere 
instruction,  we  are  moved  to  penitent  grief  over 
our  own  sins ;  then  we  long  to  rise  to  higher 
planes  of  life  ourselves,  to  enter  into  fellowship 
with  God  himself,  and,  gaining  confidence  from 
the  contemplation  of  God's  goodness,  begin  to 
hope  that  what  we  long  for  may  still  be  attained. 
In  this  atmosphere  animosities  cease,  petty  ambi- 
tions die  away,  and  the  love  to  our  fellow-men 
that  before  perhaps  seemed  impossible  begins  to 
take  possession  of  the  heart. 

What    kind    of    ritual    will   accomplish    these  The 
ends?     In   the   first   place,  the   service  must  be  of  a  proper 
dignified.     By  this  is  not  meant  that  it  must  be  "^"^^ 
cold  and  dead,  but  that   it   must   be  serious  and 
calculated  to  cultivate  seriousness.     The  precise  Dignified 
degree  and  type  of  dignity  that  are  expedient  in 
any  given  school  must  be  determined  with  great 
wisdom  in  view   of  the   class  of  pupils  of  which 
the  school  is  made  up.     A  service  that  would  be  Adapted  to 

-      ,,  .      ,  ,         .  .  11.'  •  the  various 

wholly  suitable,  impressive,  and  elevating  in  a  Divisions 
school  made  up  of  pupils  drawn  from  cultivated 
Christian  families  might  be  absurd  and  impos- 
sible in  a  mission  school  in  the  city  or  on  the 
frontier.  Regard  must  be  had  to  the  age  of  the 
pupils  also.  Wherever  the  size  of  the  school  and 
the  structure  of  the  building  permit  it,  it  is  desir- 
able that  there  should  be  separate  exercises  for 
different    divisions    of   the    school.      A    service 


1 88  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

adapted  to  the  youngest  pupils  cannot  be  con- 
stantly helpful  to  adults;  the  converse  is  even 
more  emphatically  true.  But  whatever  the  age 
or  the  intelligence  of  the  pupils,  the  elements 
which  compose  the  service  and  the  manner  of 
those  who  conduct  it  should  both  be  such  as  to 
cultivate  reverence.  Songs  that  belittle  and 
cheapen  religion,  leaders  who  turn  the  service 
into  a  drill  in  singing,  librarians  who  distribute 
books  while  the  service  is  in  progress,  superin- 
tendents who  are  unable  to  maintain  control  and 
secure  quiet — all  these  tend  to  defeat  the  true 
ends  of  the  Sunday-school  service. 
Cheerful  But  while  it   is   dignified,   the  service  ought 

also  to  be  cheerful.  Nowhere  is  a  sad  and  sad- 
dening service  more  out  of  place  than  in  the 
Sunday  school.  Young  people  are  prone  enough 
to  regard  religion  as  sad  and  gloomy.  The 
Sunday  school  ought  to  do  nothing  which  will 
foster  this  idea.  There  may  be  times  when  it  is 
desirable  in  some  part  of  the  Sunday-school  serv- 
ice so  to  emphasize  the  fact  of  sin  and  the  need 
of  repentance  as  to  give  a  note  of  sadness  to  that 
part.  But  this  should  not  be  the  prevailing  note. 
The  gospel  is  good  news;  good  news  even  for 
sinners,  since  there  is  forgiveness  for  those  who 
repent.  The  keynote  of  the  Sunday  school 
should  be  a  joyous  one. 

The  service  ought  to  be  one  in  which  all  can 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  189 

take  some  part.  This  is  less  important  in  the  One  in  which 
case  of  the  adult  division  of  the  school,  if  its  serv- 
ices are  held  apart  from  those  of  the  rest  of  the 
school,  than  in  the  other  divisions  ;  but  it  holds 
in  general  for  every  part  of  the  school.  A  service 
which  makes  its  appeal  to  the  feelings  from  with- 
out may  awaken  emotion,  but  to  cultivate  the 
religious  feelings,  to  educate  them,  they  must  be 
given  opportunity  for  expression.  Such  oppor- 
tunity may  be  afforded  by  responsive  reading, 
by  prayer  in  unison,  by  singing.  Incidentally, 
this  will  help  in  maintaining  order  and  dignity  by 
holding  the  attention  and  maintaining  the  interest 
of  the  pupils.  But  it  has  its  deeper  reason  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  necessary  to  the  attainment  of 
the  proper  educational  purpose  of  the  service. 
Finally,  the  whole  service  should  be  character- 
ized by  the  note  of  sincerity  and  reality.  Nothing 
should  be  done  in  a  spirit  of  vain  show.  The 
service  should  not  compel  the  expression  of  sen- 
timents which  those  who  join  in  this  service  can- 
not be  reasonably  expected  actually  to  entertain. 
It  should  tend  to  lift  all  who  join  in  it  to  a  higher 
moral  plane,  but  it  should  not  seek  to  do  this  by 
calling  upon  them  to  affirm  things  which  it  is 
practically  impossible  for  them  to  affirm  truly. 
There  ought,  therefore,  to  be  something  of  flexi- 
bility in  the  service,  and  on  the  part  of  the  leader 
a  mind  quick  to  recognize  the  variations  in  the 


190 


PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 


Adapted  to 
the  changing 
condition  of 
the  school 


Music  in  the 
Sunday  school 


condition  of  the  schooL  A  service  which  would 
be  wholly  appropriate  in  the  midst  of  the  relative 
relaxation  of  a  summer  vacation  might  be  wholly 
unsuitable  in  a  period  of  intenser  religious  activ- 
ity and  deeper  religious  feeling  in  midwinter. 
Sometimes  it  may  be  wise  to  emphasize  this  ne- 
cessity of  sincerity  by  asking  only  those  to  join 
in  a  certain  part  of  the  service  who  can  do  so 
sincerely.  But  to  resort  to  this  expedient  often 
would  cultivate  an  unhealthy  habit  of  introspec- 
tion or  defeat  the  very  end  which  it  was  intended 
to  secure. 

A  word  or  two  concerning  the  music  in  par- 
ticular. Much  has  been  written  in  criticism  of 
the  songs  in  common  use  in  the  Sunday  school, 
both  of  the  words  and  of  the  music.  And  cer- 
tainly it  would  be  difficult  to  speak  too  severely 
of  many  of  these  songs.  But  in  truth  what 
needs  to  be  said  about  the  music  is  simply  what 
we  have  already  said  concerning  the  service  in 
general.  It  should  be  dignified,  cheerful,  adapted 
to  the  occasion  and  to  those  who  are  to  join  in 
it,  and  hence  capable  of  being  shared  in  by  all, 
above  all  pervaded  by  the  note  of  sincerity.  If 
it  meets  these  conditions  it  will  exclude  both  the 
weakly  sentimental  songs  which  help  either  to 
emasculate  religion  or  make  it  repulsive,  and  the 
"catchy"  tunes  which  are  fitted  rather  to  the 
street  ballad  than  to  the  hymn.     It  may  be  laid 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  191 

down  as  a  rule  to  which  there  are  few  excep-  Jhe  hymn 
tions,  at  least  above  the  kindergarten,  that  the  brcoLidered 
songs  of  the  Sunday  school  should  be  real  lyrics, 
not  religious  ballads.  But  the  principle  of  adapta- 
tion to  the  age  of  pupils  applies  here  only  less 
strictly  than  in  the  matter  of  instruction.  It  is  as 
absurd  to  ask  children  of  ten  years  to  sing  hymns 
reflecting  the  experiences  of  mature  men  and 
women  as  to  ask  their  fathers  and  grandfathers 
to  join  in  distinctively  children's  songs.  Some 
hymns  of  praise  are  perhaps  adapted  to  old  and 
young  alike.  But  the  musical  service  of  the 
school  can  be  what  it  ought  to  be  only  when 
there  is  some  separation  of  the  school  into  divi- 
sions for  the  service  as  well  as  for  the  teaching. 
Each  division  needs  its  own  hymns,  and  these, 
while  always  real  hymns,  should  be  adapted  to  the 
relative  maturity  of  the  members  of  that  division. 

The  ritual  of  the  Sunday  schools  is  deserving  The  neglect 
of  the  most  careful  study  on  the  part  of  all  who 
are  interested  in  promoting  the  efficiency  of  the 
Sunday  school.  Important  and  central  as  is  the 
study  of  the  Bible,  the  ritual  has  yet  its  own 
distinct  educational  value,  and  should  never  be 
crowded  into  the  position  of  a  mere  appendage 
to  the  teaching  hour.  The  experiment  has  been 
tried  in  some  schools  of  dividing  the  Sunday- 
school  hour  into  two  quite  distinct  portions,  the 
first  given  to  the  teaching  of  the  lesson,  preceded 


service 


192  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

The  double  perhaps  by  a  single  hymn  or  a  brief  prayer;  the 
second  to  the  service,  thus  securing  greater  con- 
tinuity and  impressiveness,  and  avoiding  the 
conversion  of  the  opening  exercises  into  a  mere 
leeway  for  the  arrival  of  tardy  teachers  and 
pupils.  It  has  been  eminently  successful  in  some 
cases,  and  is  worthy  of  serious  consideration  by 
other  schools.  The  employment  of  a  printed 
order  of  service,  varied  from  time  to  time,  has 
likewise  been  found  to  be  helpful  in  many  schools. 
But  whatever  the  methods  employed  —  and  no 
one  method  will  be  adapted  to  all  schools  —  the 
improvement  of  the  ritual  is  one  of  the  pressing 
needs  in  Sunday-school  work. 


tament  times 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  TEACHING  MINISTRY. 

Is  OUR  title  a  misnomer?     Is  the  word  "minis-  The  ministry 

ter"  synonymous  with  "preacher?"     The  ideal  °     ^^ 

church   of  the   New  Testament  is  one  in  which 

each  member  is  fitted  by  the  Holy  Spirit  for  a 

particular  function,   or  kind   of  service,   for  the 

good  of  the  whole  body,  and  each  is  performing 

that  function.     Prominent  among  these  functions 

in  the  New  Testament  times  were  those  of  apostle, 

prophet,    pastor,    teacher,    evangelist,    the    two 

functions  of  pastor  and  teacher  being  apparently 

closely  associated.     The  apostolic  function,  as  it 

existed  in  the  apostolic  age,  ceased  with  that  age, 

its  nearest  modern  analogue   being  that  of  the 

missionary.     To   the  work  of  the  prophet,  who 

stood  forth  with  his  message  from  God  to  speak 

to  the  people  on  behalf  of  God,  the  work  of  the 

modern  preacher  corresponds  most  closely.    The 

pastoral  function  is  represented  by  the  pastor  as 

the  leader  and  shepherd  of  the  people,  and  by  all 

those  who  join  with  him  in  like  service.     Of  the 

work  of  the  evangelist  it  is  not  needful  to  speak 

here. 

But  what  has  become  of  the  teacher  ?    He  has 

193 


194  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

The  his  representatives,  no  doubt,  in  the  Superintend- 

disappearance 

of  the  teacher  ent  of  the  Sunday  school  and  in  the  teachers 
who  work  under  his  oversight.  But  what  means 
does  the  church  employ  to  see  that  it  is  provided 
with  competent  teachers  ?  In  the  early  days  of 
the  church,  prophets,  pastors,  evangelists,  and 
teachers  alike  sprang  from  the  body  of  the  church, 
and  entered  upon  their  work  without  special 
training  for  it.  Little  by  little,  under  the  guid- 
ance, as  we  believe,  of  the  same  Spirit  that  in  the 
beginning  gave  to  the  church  apostles,  prophets, 
pastors,  and  teachers,  it  has  come  to  be  recog- 
nized that,  in  order  to  render  the  service  to  which 
they  are  called,  missionaries  and  pastors  and  evan- 
gelists and  preachers  must  be  trained  for  their  work. 
But  by  a  singular  oversight,  difficult  to  account 
for,  the  teacher,  in  the  sense  in  which^the  word  is 
used  in  the  New  Testament,  has  apparently  been 
overlooked.  We  have  trained  teachers  of  math- 
ematics and  history  and  pagan  literature  in  our 
colleges  and  academies.  We  have  teachers  of 
the  Bible  and  history  and  theology  in  our  theo- 
logical schools.  But  the  religious  teachers  of  the 
young  in  the  church  and  Sunday  school  have 
been  left  in  large  part  without  training.  Our 
preachers  and  pastors  to  whom  by  eminence  we 
apply  the  term  "minister"  have  as  a  rule  had  some 
sort  of  special  training  for  their  work  ;  and  even 
in  those  rare  cases  in  which  a  man  steps  at  once 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  195 

from  some  other  occupation  into  preaching  and 
pastoral  work  he  is  enabled  by  the  exclusive  de- 
votion of  himself  to  his  work  to  be  constantly- 
training  himself  for  it.  But  in  how  many  churches 
is  there  found  a  teacher,  or  one  in  charge  of  the 
teaching  work,  who  has  been  trained  for  it  by 
years  of  study,  or  who  is  enabled  to  train  himself 
for  it  by  the  devotion  of  his  whole  time  and  en- 
ergy to  it  ?  Churches  that  have  but  one  minister 
who  devotes  his  whole  time  to  the  service  of  the 
church  demand  that  he  be  a  good  preacher  and 
a  good  pastor.  Who  ever  asks  whether  he  is  a 
good  teacher  ?  In  the  larger  churches,  in  which 
there  are  two  or  more  ministers,  one  of  whom  as- 
sumes special  responsibility  for  the  preaching, 
and  the  others  of  whom  are  engaged  in  different 
forms  of  pastoral  service,  it  is  insisted  that  each 
shall  be  fitted  for  his  special  work.  In  how  many 
churches  is  there  also  a  trained  minister  engaged 
in  and  in  charge  of  the  work  of  teaching?  There 
are  a  few  such,  but  they  are  very  few. 

Is  there  any  justification   for  this   relatively  This 
greater  emphasis  on  the  preaching  and  pastoral  depredation 
ministry  as  compared  with  the  teaching  ministry?  unjustifiable 
Certainly  not  in  the  New  Testament.     Certainly 
not  in  the  needs  of  the  church  today.     There  is 
no  need  to  underestimate  the  work  of  the  pro- 
phetic and  the  pastoral  ministers  in  order  to  set 
the  teaching  ministry  in  its  true  light.  Their  work 


196  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

is  most  important,  most  divine  and  helpful ;  most 
necessary  •*  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  unto 
the  work  of  ministering,  unto  the  building  up  of 
the  body  of  Christ."  But  is  it  more  important, 
more  influential  on  the  future  of  the  church  and 
the  world,  than  the  teaching  of  the  young,  whose 
ideas  of  truth  are  as  yet  in  process  of  formation, 
whose  characters  are  still  plastic  and  sensitive, 
whose  future  is  now  in  the  making?  And  is  this 
teaching  work  so  much  less  important  than  the 
preaching  and  shepherding  work  that,  while  we 
rightly  demand  of  the  preacher  and  the  pastor 
that  he  spend  anywhere  from  two  to  ten  years  in 
preparing  for  his  work,  the  work  of  teaching  can 
be  committed  to  men  and  women  most  of  whom 
neverspent  three  months  in  any  special  preparation 
for  their  work,  and  whose  work  is  performed  un- 
der the  guidance  of  a  Superintendent  who  is,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  equally  innocent  of  prepa- 
ration ?  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  this  state 
of  things  is  sound.  One  can  only  marvel  that  it 
has  been  permitted  to  continue  so  long. 
The  remedy  But  what  is  the  remedy  ?     Many  teachers  are 

needed  in  the  Sunday  school.  It  is  impossible 
that  they  should  all  spend  years  of  study  in 
preparing  for  their  work.  True  ;  but  it  is  not  be- 
yond the  bounds  of  possibility,  nor  is  it  unrea- 
sonable to  demand,  that,  if  not  in  every  church, 
yet  in  many  churches,  there  should  be  one  thor- 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  197 

oughly    trained    teacher,    who    should    himself  The  teaching 
teach,  oversee  the  work  of  the  other  teachers,  ^^^^^ 
and  train  them  for  their  work.     Such  a  teaching 
minister  is  today  a  necessity  to  every  well-organ- 
ized church.     And  he  needs  as  thorough  training 
for  his  work  as  the  preacher  and  the  pastor.     No 
work  in  the  church  can  possibly  be  more  respon- 
sible or  important  than  his.     Let  the  teaching  of 
the  children  and  youth   be   in  competent  hands, 
and  we  may  almost  cease  anxiety  as  to  who  does 
the  preaching.     In  a  previous  chapter,  speaking 
from  the  point  of  view  of  things  as  they  are,  each 
church  having  as  a  rule  but  one  minister,  we  have 
insisted  upon  the  necessity  of  the   pastor  being 
the  teacher  of  the  teachers.     We  do  not  retract 
that,  but  urge  as  something  still  better  that  the 
diversity  of  function  which   the  New  Testament 
recognizes  shall  be  revived  and  a  teaching  min- 
istry be  built  up  alongside  of  the  prophetic  minis- 
try.    If,  indeed,  a  church  can  afford  to  support 
only   one   educated   minister,  then  that  minister 
should  be  just  as  much  a  teacher  as  he  is  preacher 
and  pastor ;  he  ought  to  be  as  thoroughly  trained 
for  his  teaching  as  for  either  of  the  other  depart- 
ments of  his  ministry.     And  if  he  is  thus  trained 
for  the  teaching  work  of  the  church,  the  Sunday 
school  should  be  as  fully  under  his  oversight  as 
the  preaching  or  the  pastoral  work.      But  if  a 
church  is  able  to  maintain  a  plurality  of  minis- 


198  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

ters  it  should  provide  for  itself  a  teaching  min- 
ister quite  as  certainly  as  a  preaching  minister, 
and  should  insist  upon  his  being  equipped  for  his 
work  with  the  same  insistence  with  which  it  de- 
mands a  good  preacher. 
The  work  of  But  if  a  church  has  such  a  minister,  what  can 
pastor  "  he  do?  In  the  first  place,  he  can  himself  give 
instruction.  He  can  teach  the  adults  of  the 
church  in  a  service  specially  devoted  to  this,  and 
the  young  people  in  connection  with  the  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor  or  other  like  organization, 
and  the  teachers  of  the  Sunday  school,  giving  to 
these  latter  instruction  both  in  the  Bible  itself 
and  in  principles  and  methods  of  teaching.  Yet 
his  greater  work  must  be  more  fundamental  than 
this.  It  must  aim  at  the  conversion  of  the  Sun- 
day school  into  a  genuine  educational  institution, 
organized  and  conducted  on  sound  educational 
principles.  This  will  involve  the  construction  of 
a  course  of  study  based  upon  intelligent  concep- 
tions of  the  Bible  and  broad  knowledge  of  it,  as 
well  as  upon  sound  pedagogical  principles.  Then, 
by  selecting  from  among  those  who  are  available 
for  the  work  of  teaching  one  or  more  teachers 
for  each  year's  work  included  in  the  curriculum, 
he  can  set  about  the  training  of  these  teachers, 
each  for  the  particular  work  which  he  or  she  is 
to  do. 

Not  that  each    teacher   is  to    know   nothing 


FOR  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  199 

but  the  year's  work  which  he  or  she  teaches. 
To  know  nothing  but  this  would  be  to  fail  of 
really  knowing  this.  Each  teacher  should,  if 
possible,  have  gone  through  the  whole  course  of 
study,  and  in  course  of  time  it  will  be  possible  to 
limit  the  selection  of  teachers  to  those  who  have 
already  done  this.  But  meantime,  and  even 
when  this  is  the  case,  each  teacher  ought  to  be 
specially  trained  for  the  particular  work  assigned 
to  him  or  her,  and  so  become  really  competent 
to  do  the  work  thoroughly  and  well.  Thus  little 
by  little  a  body  of  trained  teachers  may  be  built 
up,  each  of  whom  can  do  competently  his  own 
special  work.  Under  the  system  now  generally 
prevalent  this  is  almost  impossible,  and  is  becom- 
ing constantly  more  difficult. 

We  do  not  forget   the  noble  company  of  in-  A  word  of 
telligent  and    able    men    and    women    who    are  for  the  rank 
giving  time,  energy,   and  ability  to   the  teaching  ^nd  file  of 
of  classes    in   the  Sunday    school.     They    have  teachers 
wrought    nobly   and  fruitfully.       But    the   most 
intelligent  of  them  would  be  foremost  in  insist- 
ing that  the  system   that  lays   upon   a   teacher 
who  has  had  no  opportunity   for  special   biblical 
study  the  task  of  teaching  the  prophecy  of  Jere- 
miah today,  and  six   months  hence  the  book  of 
Acts,  and  the  year  after,  Hebrews  or  Romans, 
thus  demanding  knowledge  of  the  whole   Bible 
with  no  opportunity  to  know  thoroughly  any  part 


200  PRINCIPLES  AND  IDEALS 

of  it,  can  only  be  endured  till  a  better  plan  can 
be  devised  and  put  into  effect. 
Two  urgent  Jhc  two  things  indispensable   to  such   better 

needs  of  the  ....  .     - 

Sunday  school  plan  are  a  teaching  ministry  for  the  oversight  and 
conduct  of  the  teaching  in  each  church  and  an 
intelligently  constructed  curriculum  of  study. 
Both  are  so  urgently  needed  that  it  is  difficult  to 
assign  to  either  precedence  over  the  other.  The 
church  ought  not  to  have  to  wait  long  for  either. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX. 


EXAMINATIONS   GIVEN   IN   THE  HYDE  PARK 
BAPTIST  SUNDAY  SCHOOL,  CHICAGO. 

FOURTH   GRADE  :   THE    BOOKS  OF  THE   BIBLE. 

1.  What  are  the  kinds  of  books  found  in  the  Bible  ? 

2.  Place  opposite  the  name  of  each  book  the  kind  of 
book;  for  example: 


Genesis,  History  and  Story, 

Exodus, 

Leviticus, 

Numbers, 

Deuteronomy, 

Joshua, 

Judges, 

Ruth, 

1  Samuel, 

2  Samuel, 

1  Kings, 

2  Kings, 

1  Chronicles, 

2  Chronicles, 
Ezra, 

Nehemiah, 
Esther, 
Job, 

The  Psalms, 
The  Proverbs, 


Ecclesiastes, 

The  Song  of  Songs, 

Isaiah, 

Jeremiah, 

Lamentations, 

Ezekiel, 

Daniel, 

Hosea, 

Joel, 

Amos, 

Obadiah, 

Jonah, 

Micah, 

Nahum, 

Habakkuk, 

Zephaniah, 

Haggai, 

Zechariah, 

Malachi, 


203 


204  APPENDIX 

Matthew,  i  Timothy, 

Mark,  2  Timothy, 

Luke,  To  Titus, 

John,  To  Philemon, 

The  Acts,  To  the  Hebrews, 

To  the  Romans,  James, 

1  Corinthians,  i  Peter, 

2  Corinthians,  2  Peter, 
To  the  Galatians,  i  John, 
To  the  Ephesians,  2  John, 
To  the  Philippians,  3  John, 
To  the  Colossians,  Jude, 

1  Thessalonians,  Revelation, 

2  Thessalonians, 

3.  What  kind  of  stories  are  found  in  Genesis  ? 

4.  Name  four  famous  men  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 

5.  What  stories  from  the  book  of  Judges  can  you 
name  ? 

6.  In  what  book  are  the  stories  of  Samuel  ? 

7.  What  stories  about  David  do  you  remember  ? 

8.  Name  three  Old  Testament  preachers. 

9.  In  what  city  did  many  of  them  preach  ? 

10.  What  is  the  name  of  the  hymn  book  in  the  Bible  ? 

11.  What  four  books  all  tell  the  same  story  ? 

12.  Name  the  story  about  Jesus  which  you  like  best. 

Will  the  parents  please  assist  the  pupils  by  seeing  that 
an  honest  efifort  is  made  to  answer  these  questions?  The 
Bible  may  be  used  in  answering  the  questions. 

SEVENTH   GRADE :     THREE   GREAT  APOSTLES. 

1.  Where  and  why  did  Paul  gather  the  great  collection 
for  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem  ? 

2.  In  what  way  did  Paul  prove  that  he  was  a  true 
apostle  of  Christ  ? 


APPENDIX  205 

3.  By  whom  was  the  Church  of  Rome  probably  founded, 
and  why  did  not  Paul  go  there  from  Corinth  ? 

4.  How  does  Paul  describe  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  his 
letter  to  the  Romans  ? 

5.  Describe  Paul's  return  journey  from  Corinth  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  tell  how  he  was  received  in  Jerusalem  ? 

6.  What  charge  did  the  Jews  make  against  Paul  in  his 
trial  before  Felix  ? 

7.  Why  was  Paul  pleased  to  speak  before  Agrippa  ? 
Why  was  Paul  not  set  free  ? 

8.  Name  the  principal  places  passed  in  Paul's  journey 
to  Rome.  How  did  Paul  encourage  the  sailors  when  in 
danger  of  shipwreck  ? 

9.  How  did  Paul  spend  his  time  while  awaiting  his  trial 
in  Rome  ? 

10.  What  are  some  of  the  things  in  Paul's  character 
which  you  most  admire  ? 

EIGHTH    GRADE:     THE  GOSPEL  OF  MARK. 

(To   be  answered  in  writing,  using  the  New  Testament,  if  you 
wish,  but  no  personal  help.) 

1 .  Tell  what  you  know  about  the  writer  of  the  second 
gospel. 

2.  Who  is  the  first  person  spoken  of  in  the  gospel  of 
Mark  ?  Tell  briefly  what  the  gospel  says  about  his  way  of 
living  and  his  work. 

3.  What  are  the  first  two  events  of  Jesus*  life  related 
in  this  gospel  ? 

4.  What  is  the  first  miracle  of  Jesus  related  in  this 
gospel  ? 

5.  Make  a  list  of  the  miracles  of  healing  (including 
cases  of  demoniacs)  narrated  in  the  first  five  chapters  of 
Mark. 

6.  What  answer  did  Jesus  give  to  those  who  urged 


2o6  APPENDIX 

him  to  return  to  Capernaum  (i  :  38)  ?    What  is  the  meaning 
of  the  answer  ? 

7.  For  what  five  things  did  the  Pharisees  find  fault 
with  Jesus  as  related  in  2  :  i — 3  :  6  ? 

8.  State  briefly  how  he  answered  each  of  these  criti- 
cisms. 

Q.  Write  the  list  of  the  apostles.  Which  of  these  are 
mentioned  in  the  gospel  previous  to  the  record  of  their 
appointment  as  apostles  ? 

10.  What  answer  did  Jesus  make  to  the  charge  that  he 
cast  out  demons  by  the  prince  of  demons  ? 

11.  Who  did  Jesus  say  were  his  brothers  and  sisters  ? 

12.  Name  the  parables  of  the  kingdom  in  the  fourth 
chapter  of  Mark. 

13.  State  what  you  understand  to  be  the  central  teach- 
ing of  each  one. 

14.  What  reason  did  Jesus  give  for  teaching  in  par- 
ables in  4  :  10-12,  and  4  :  21,  22  ? 

15.  Tell  briefly  the  story  of  Jesus  calming  the  storm. 

16.  Tell  very  briefly  the  story  of  the  Gerasene  demo- 
niac. 

17.  What  was  the  usual  cry  of  the  demoniacs  when 
they  saw  Jesus  ? 

18.  In  what  part  of  Palestine  did  all  the  events  nar- 
rated in  I  :  14 — 4  :  41  take  place  ? 

19.  In  what  city  are  certain  of  them  said  to  have 
occurred  ?     Where  is  this  city  ? 

TENTH    GRADE:     THE    BOOK    OF   AMOS. 

1.  Where  was  Amos's  home  ? 

2.  What  was  his  occupation  before  he  became  a 
prophet  ? 

3.  To  whom  did  he  preach  ? 

4.  Name  the  foreign  nations  whose  punishment  he 
announced. 


APPENDIX  207 

5.  State  the  sins  which  Amos  charges  against  each  of 
these  foreign  nations. 

6.  Why  did  Amos  tell  Israel  of  the  coming  judgment 
upon  these  foreign  nations  ? 

7.  State  the  sins  Amos  charges  against  Israel  in  chaps. 
2  and  3. 

8.  What  was  a  Nazarite  (2  :  1 1)? 

Q.  Who  were  the  Amorites  (2:9,  10)? 
10.  Where  was  Bethel  and  why  does  Amos  in  3:14 
especially  select  it  for  punishment  ? 


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